Son Ranma
by Tellemicus Sundance
Summary: A mishap when he was younger led to a strange new adventure for Ranma. Sadly, as always, his idiot father had to come and mess it up! But now, after three years, his past is finally going to catch up with him. Ranma will be faced with a choice that will affect not only his life and future, but that of everyone he knows. And once made, there'll be no going back. - NO YAOI!
1. The Wild Horse Slips the Leash

**.**

 **Son Ranma  
** By: Tellemicus Sundance  
 _#01: The Wild Horse Slips the Leash  
_

 **November 2, 1990**

The Tendo Dojo and the house were in a state of absolute wreckage. Walls were smashed in, rocks and statues were just pilings of rubble, trees splintered, windows shattered, the floor torn up and crushed, the roof shingles were torn off and broken, huge craters dotted the surrounding grounds all around the building, the outer walls having massive holes punched through them or entire sections reduced to debris. It was a scene that wouldn't have been out of place in a war zone or a battlefield of savage brutality. Which made the facts that because there was no such conflict going on and that all of the destruction was done by one person all the more unbelievable. Standing over the downed form of a black and blue beaten panda next to the koi pond in the rubble strewn backyard, Saotome Ranma was busy laughing his head off with an absolute childish glee.

 _He_ was the one responsible for all of the destruction, much to great annoyance, aggravations, and anger of the occupants. Although, the reasons for why he was on this destructive rampage were quite understandable. He had just spent the better part of a week inflicted with a shiatsu weakness curse by Happosai. The diminutive grandmaster of the Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū had given Ranma the shiatsu curse as a means of punishing him by sealing away all of his strength, leaving him as weak as a newborn baby. And after being beaten around and nearly killed by several of my antagonistic and malicious 'rivals', Ranma had predictably gone off to train and try to regain his strength. But with some much-needed aid from Cologne of the Chinese Amazons, he was able to learn the Hiryu Shoten Ha and used the technique to overwhelm Happosai in order to get back the shiatsu chart that showed the exact point needed to undue the weakness curse on Ranma. At first, he had thought that he'd failed because the chart had been accidentally shredded during the Hiryu Shoten Ha's use. Ranma had feared that he would be cursed to remain weak for the rest of his life. Thankfully, the last and most important piece of the chart had been found and Cologne was quick to reverse the curse on him. And ever since that point, now three hours later, Ranma was still relishing in having his strength returned to him. Because, in his own words, without his strength, he was nothing.

Finally calming down somewhat as he gasped for breath, Ranma dropped down and sat quite comfortably upon the bruised and twitching panda as though he were just a beanbag. Looking down at his hands as he started flexing them, Ranma couldn't stop the smile that crossed his face even if he wanted to. "Man, it feels _good_ to have my strength back!"

' _ **Not for me!**_ ' the panda below him 'said' as it held up a small sign in its claws. Flipping the sign over, it continued with ' _We need to rework your self-control, boy!_ '

"Puh!" Ranma snorted, looking away in annoyed arrogance. "Ya would think that just because yur so weak, pops!"

The panda growled angrily from beneath him. But it was still too tired and bruised up to really want to move around too much just yet.

After a moment, Ranma returned his gaze down to his hands, flexing his fingers in contemplation. It was true that his strength had finally returned to him. But at the same time, he felt…different than he did before. He felt… _much_ stronger for some reason. His whole body felt lighter and bursting with more energy than he could contain. It was like he'd been moving around in a river of molasses with two-ton weights strapped onto his back and limbs and then suddenly had them removed. The difference was that extreme.

"Have I somehow gained a strength boost from all of this?" Ranma wondered quietly to himself. Unnoticed by him, the panda froze for a moment underneath him, having heard his son speaking to himself. The fat creature glanced up at the boy with a careful, almost neutral, gaze of contemplation of its own.

Humming to himself, Ranma hopped off the bear and began a quick series of squats. Once the muscles in his legs had been suitably warmed up, he crouched deeply to the ground before launching himself upwards into the highest jump he could manage. Prior to this whole ordeal, Ranma could easily jump well over a five-story building in a purely vertical leap. This time, he went higher, _much_ higher.

" _ **WHHHOOOOOOAAAAAA**_ _!_ " Ranma cried out in surprise, joy, and childish excitement. " _AM I_ _ **FLYING**_ _?!_ " It sure felt it like! He could see for kilometers in all directions, even all the way to the distant coast! It was a truly spectacular view! " _THIS IS_ _ **SOOOO**_ _AWESOME!_ "

Reflexively, following some sort of instinct he couldn't quite explain, he looked off to his side, as if expecting there to be someone right next to him. But there wasn't. And this realization that he was alone left some kind of strange void in him, an ache of longing and loneliness that he just couldn't understand. It was easily enough to override the incredible joy he'd been feeling not even five seconds earlier. It was a very somber and solemn Ranma who landed back on the same spot he'd blasted off from.

"How did you do that?!" an incredulous voice asked from behind him. It was his fiancée, Tendo Akane, standing on the porch leading into the washitsu. There was a look of total disbelief and even bordering awe in her expression. Strangely, the look on her face didn't engender the normal burst of reluctant affection he usually felt when he saw her. Well, whenever she _wasn't_ being her usual uncute tomboy self. Not with the strange sensation of emotional loss that he was still feeling so vibrantly.

"I…don't know," Ranma said, looking off to the side. His thoughts were focused on trying to figure out that weird feeling of loss he'd felt just moments ago.

"How can you _not_ know?!" her expression changing quickly from awed disbelief to skeptic annoyance in an instant. "You just did it!"

"I don't know! Okay!" he shot back with a bit more heat than he'd intended. Quickly calming down, he turned to show her his back as he gestured to the spot that Cologne had hit. "Maybe the tenketsu that released my strength also boosted it? How am I supposed to know?"

Akane gained a thoughtful look on her face for a moment, before shaking her head. "That's _stupid_ , even for _you_ , Ranma." Then her expression hardened significantly as she thrust out her hand and pointed at him imperiously. "Now, if you've _**FINALLY**_ calmed down, how about you _get in here_ and _clean up this_ _ **mess**_ _you've made!_ "

Blinking in surprise, Ranma looked past the girl into the washitsu behind her. Upon seeing the state of absolute destruction and disrepair that he'd mindlessly caused in his bout of unbridled joy and vindication, a cold sweat started breaking out. Then Kasumi walked into view, dressed in a heavy apron, carrying a bucket of soapy water, dustpans, a broom and mop, and trash bags. Glancing up, the eldest Tendo sister's eyes met Ranma's for a brief instant and a tsunami of guilt swept over the teenager.

Shoulders sagging and his head dropping in resignation, Ranma could only utter out, "Fine, fine. I'm coming."

While Akane nodded and started speaking about 'how he should always clean up his own mess himself anyways' to him, Ranma glanced back over at Kasumi. She had saw and heard his agreement and sent him a warm, thankful smile. A smile that caused his face to heat ever so slightly and causing him to look away as he replied in annoyance to Akane's continued nagging.

* * *

 **November 9, 1990**

Loud whacks of flesh on wood echoed through the backyard of the Tendo home as one black-haired pigtailed martial artist was busy punching it hard enough to violently rock its foundations in the ground. He was doing this in order to toughen up his fists. However, as seen by the look of annoyance on his face, Ranma was very frustrated.

That was the simple truth of the matter. And the cause of this frustration was ironically the cause of his unbridled joy a week earlier. In that time, he's since discovered that his strength and speed and overall physical abilities had essentially doubled, if not tripled, since having his strength returned to him. This meant that he had to completely relearn his self-control. Holding a glass of water without accidentally crushing it had become a chore for him in recent days since he was constantly misjudging how much pressure he was applying to it. In fact, he was racking up quite a large bill for the Tendo household in how many he was breaking and needing to replace.

But that wasn't the only reason he was frustrated. Prior to the incident, Ranma had an established training routine that he could use to reach and then push his limits in as short amount of time as possible. But now that same routine could be considered as just a light warmup for how much it affected his growth.

Letting out a loud cry in aggravation, Ranma punched out at the log with what he judged to be maybe half his new strength. The log was instantly shattered into splinters while being torn out of the ground and sent flying back into the rock wall surrounding the property.

" _Dammit!_ " he cussed angrily, dropping to one knee and punching the ground to vent his anger. "Dammit! _Dammit!_ _**Dammit!**_ " His last cry was accented by a particularly powerful punch that hit the earth like a freight train, making a crater roughly two meters wide and shaking the area around him for a moment.

Heaving for a breath, it took a long moment for him to calm himself. ' _Why can't I seem to get anywhere? I've trained like this every day for years and it's always worked before! So, why isn't it working now?_ ' That was when a new thought entered his head. ' _I've been doing the_ _ **same thing**_ _for_ _ **years**_ _. But maybe… Maybe I've been doing it wrong?_ ' Now that he thought about it, the routine he was following had been one that his father had taught him back when he was just a young boy. "Or maybe I need to try something different?"

"What's all the noise about?!" Akane snapped as she rounded the corner from the dojo, dressed in her usual yellow gi. Her angry expression only deepened when she saw Ranma standing in the center of a crater, knowing that he was the cause of it and feeling that all-too-familiar surge of jealousy towards him for it. "You had better not be about to go around destroying my home again, Ranma!"

Looking over at Akane, he opened his mouth to make one of his usual snappy comebacks that would've most assuredly only made her angrier. However, upon seeing her dressed in her gi, he stopped and blinked for a moment. Then, with clear hesitance in his voice and expression, he said, "Hey, Akane. Ya wanna spar with me?"

"Wha—Huh?!" Akane floundered, caught by surprise by the unexpected question. For just a moment, she felt her face flush with embarrassment at the thought of once again sparring with Ranma. But then her flush turned into a glare of annoyance. She snorted and turned away, partially to hide her still red face and partially out of anger, "Why should I? You never hit me anyway!"

Groaning lightly, Ranma moved over towards her as he said, "That's not the point of sparring, Akane. Ya know that. Still, do ya or don't ya?"

Glancing over at him from the corner of her eye, Akane stared at him for a long moment as she weighed the pros and cons of taking up his offer. "Ugh, fine. Something new would be nice to do than just the usual training, I guess."

Ranma couldn't help the delighted grin that crossed his face as she said. She understood his problem too!

A few moments later, the pair of them were facing one another inside the dojo, fists up in a classic opening stance. Akane was glaring at Ranma with a set expression that seemed somehow…expecting. "Ranma, you had better actually _fight_ me this time!"

"If you can hit me, I probably will _have_ _to_ fight back at that point," Ranma remarked casually, a small smile of anticipation on his face.

That statement irked Akane and had her launching forward into a series of punches and kicks. Unlike her prior matches against Ranma, she didn't stop pressing the attack, constantly stepping and lunging forward, always trying to hit the boy. Yet he always managed to duck, dodge, or redirect her attacks with an ease that struck her as mocking in its implied simplicity. The most he did to 'attack' her was lightly tapping her in places on her shoulders, knees, and even once twisted her wrist slightly. Sadly, she failed to realize that what he was actually doing was trying to correct her stances and movements so that she could move through her sequences more fluidly.

No, all she was concerned with was that these weak 'attacks' that he was dishing out seemed more like he was mocking her, rubbing his superior skills and abilities in her face, and this just stoked her anger even more. As her anger and frustration rose, her attacks began to come faster, packing more power into her hits. She lunged forward yet again with another mighty right straight while crying out in frustration, "FIGHT BACK, YOU COWARD!"

Even through the red haze of her rage, Akane could see something flash minutely across Ranma's face. His formerly cool smile disappeared as a hardened grimace crossed his face and his eyes lost their former luster, gaining a much more dangerous edge to them than she'd ever seen before. Then, much to her great surprise, Ranma blocked her striking fist.

He didn't redirect it, dodge around it, or back away. He blocked it on his raised left forearm before knocking it aside. As she was recoiling from the surprise, Akane watched in seeming slow motion as Ranma's right arm cocked back before arcing forward towards her abdomen. The fist impacted heavily just under her sternum, picking her bodily off the ground and throwing her through the air about a meter as the air was forced from her lungs. Somehow, despite cradling her stomach area around the pain and gasping for breath, Akane managed to land on her feet. Unsteadily, it must be said, but still on her feet with one fist raised defensively in front of her.

Getting her breath back took a moment, but she was still unprepared for when Ranma suddenly lunged forward himself. In a burst of speed that she just couldn't hope to react to, or even barely see happen, he swept her feet out from under her in one easy swipe. Then, while she was still suspended in the air, he spun using the momentum of that same sweep to lash out with a backhand, striking her solidly in her sternum again and sending her careening into the wall some five meters away.

Collapsing to the ground, Akane gasped for air as her breath was knocked from her yet again. Raising her head, she glanced up with a pained grimace towards where Ranma had just corrected his stance. After a second of reorienting himself, he looked down at her with that same hard expression on his face. In spite of herself, Akane couldn't stop the slight flinch and shiver of fear that shot through her as she saw that look on his face. In the private recesses of her mind, Akane realized that that look on his normally excitable or very expressive face was more than a little intimidating and for that brief moment she was really and truly _scared_ of Ranma.

But then, there was a faint flicker of life that returned to his eyes. Blinking hard, he shook his head for a second before looking down at her again. In that moment, Akane could literally see it happen as he seemingly came back to his normal self, the old Ranma that she'd come to know, as his expression instantly changed to one of alarmed realization.

" _Gah! Sorry about that!_ I-I-I think I lost control of my strength again for a moment there! _I'm sorry!_ I didn't hurt you too much, did I?!" he was making multiple gestures of wanting to rush over to her to help her up, but was visibly restraining himself, probably thinking she wouldn't appreciate the gesture.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?!" Akane snapped, retreating back into her safety net of aggression to hide her fears. There was _no way_ she was going to let him know that she'd been scared of him! She _**hated**_ boys because they _always_ were trying to control her or treat her like some of precious but highly breakable possession and she hated that. Pushing herself to her feet, wincing in pain as she leaned heavily against the wall for support, she sent a hot glare at Ranma's panicked form. "Are you trying to say that I'm some kind of china doll that might _break_ if you hit it too hard?!"

"Well, yeah, a _little_ bit," he replied instantly. But then, as Akane's angry expression deepened, he realized just what he'd said and how she was clearly taking it. "GAH! That's not what I meant! I mean I was—!"

" _Ranma!_ " Akane yelled. Using a burst of pure wrath to fuel her body and ignore the pain that was throbbing through it, she summoned her trusty mallet and swung up at the Saotome boy with all of her raging might. " _ **YOU JERK!**_ "

A surprised cry of pain and a crash of smashed wood signaled Ranma's departure through the dojo's ceiling via Air Akane.

* * *

 **November 11, 1990**

Humming happily to herself as she slid her bike to a stop in the backyard of the Nekohanten, Shampoo dropped the kickstand and grabbed the empty delivery box from the back of the bike. It was a Sunday today, so she only had half a day of work in the café scheduled. Tonight, she was planning on visiting her dear Airen again and give him one of the trinkets she'd brought back with her from China. Aside from visiting her village and grandmother, those magic bells were the whole reason she left in the first place.

Looking up at the bright blue morning sky, Shampoo's smile only widened slightly as she took in the atmosphere around her. She could feel it. There was a strange energy in the air. The city was coming alive again, even more vibrant and wild than it usually was. The promise of a new day, with new opportunities and new challenges, was strong. It sent a jolt of excited expectation through her. Today was going to be the day! There would be absolutely nothing that would ruin it for her. Today would be a _good_ day!

"—aaaaaAAA _AAHHHHHHHH!_ " a familiar girl voice was screaming as it rapidly grew closer. The purple-haired teenage Amazon had just a split second to look to the sky behind her before a red and white blur crashed into the dumpster in the alleyway that she'd just passed through.

Shampoo blinked for a moment as she stared at the slightly-convulsing body that just laid there amidst the trash and refuse of the dumpster. But then, a slender leg shot up, kicking a portion of the trash off of its form as low, angry grumbling began to ensue from it. "Stupid, _uncute_ _tomboy!_ …How is any of that _**my**_ _fault?!_ "

It took only a brief moment of staring before Shampoo recognized the feminine red-haired cursed form of her beloved, dressed in her usual kung fu pants and a simple white muscle, both of which were now heavily stained and filthy. Her smile widened automatically as she moved forward towards the redhead. Normally, Shampoo would have rushed up and completely glomped him in an effort to show just how much she adored him and yearned for Ranma's presence while she'd been away. But now, with her clothes stained and covered in smelly trash, Shampoo had to forcefully curb her natural instinct somewhat.

"Hello, Airen!" Shampoo greeted, smiling brightly over at the cursed girl as she dropped to the ground. "You come visit Shampoo?"

Looking over at the Chinese Amazon, the redhead shot her a momentarily wary glance before settling down somewhat upon seeing her not making any move to embrace, suffocate, and/or strangle her. "Oh, hey, Shampoo. Haven't seen ya in a while. Just get back from China, eh?"

"Aiyah!" Shampoo chirped as she nodded. "Just last night!" Turning a hopeful look at the girl, she asked, "Ranma want use shower? She smell like garbage right now."

Wincing somewhat at the unpleasant reminder, the redhead gained a look of painful concentration. Knowing her fiancée as well as she did, Shampoo guessed that Ranma was probably contemplating the pros and cons of accepting her offer, of which there were quite a few in each category. But, in the end, the rancid stink that was rapidly starting to permeate from her made up her mind. "I guess a shower wouldn't hurt. And… _maybe_ … use your washing machine too?" That last question was asked very hesitantly, but with a noticeable edge of hope in the girl's voice.

"Of course!" Shampoo agreed without hesitation, smiling happily and lovingly down at the redhead. "Airen then tell Shampoo all about crazy adventure he have while Shampoo gone! Great-grandmother say about training Ranma! That great-great- _great_ honor back in village! You too-too lucky, Airen!"

"Heh," Ranma awkwardly chuckled as she looked away while scratching the back of her head. It was strange gesture that Shampoo had never seen her do before. "Yeah, it was definitely…interesting, that's for sure." Visibly gathering herself, the Saotome heir perked up as she turned hopeful and _**way**_ -too-cute eyes upon Shampoo. "But first! Shower! Please?"

Even without the lovable visage that Ranma was putting on, Shampoo would've agreed to her request easily. But since this was her fiancée, who's shining eyes were far too pleading to anything less than mind-blowingly adorable, the Amazon had no defense against it and couldn't suppress the slight squeal she had as she saw it. Needless to say, Shampoo had completely forgotten about the two enchanted bells still locked away in her luggage that she'd brought back with her, which was probably for the best.

* * *

It was about an hour later and a fully refreshed and redressed male Ranma was standing back out in the backyard of the café again. Standing a few paces across from him was Shampoo, now dressed in her usual combat outfit of pink pants, a light pink blouse, a red breast plate, and a pair of matching gauntlets. Settling into an easy ready stance, she was giving Ranma an interesting look that was a cross between an eager smile and grimace of concentration, but that strange look didn't diminish the anticipation and almost flirtatious gleam in her eyes.

"Ya ready?" Ranma asked, standing casually with his hands behind his back and a relaxed expression on his face.

"Ready!" Shampoo stated before launching herself forward with a sweeping jump-kick for his neck. Ranma easily ducked under the kick before standing up and using his shoulder to knock the Amazon's balance off as she passed over him.

As her great-granddaughter yelped in startled surprise as she careened to the ground, Cologne watched the little spar from her spot atop her walking stick near the backdoor of the café. This whole situation had come into being when Ranma had started asking Cologne some very interesting questions about tenketsu and the moxibustion. This was quickly followed by the unexpected revelation that Ranma had somehow gained a powerup once the moxibustion had been lifted. Wanting a demonstration, Cologne had requested that he sparred with Shampoo to demonstrate just how much of an increase this was. And thanks to the rather aggravating and (it must be said) disappointing time he'd been having with trying to spar with Akane these past few days, he'd readily accepted the request. Especially when Shampoo promised that she'd hold nothing back during the fight, not even for him.

What she was seeing now made Ranma's statements of receiving some kind of powerup seem all-too-true to the old woman. Prior to having his strength sealed, Ranma was only slightly better than Shampoo as a pure physical combatant, even though their levels of martial skill had far wider gaps between them. With the Bakusai Tenketsu and Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken training that she'd recently put her descendant through, Cologne had felt that Shampoo would've easily surpassed or at least negated Ranma's advantage. But from what she was seeing, he wasn't even trying as he dodged her kicks, redirected her punches, and teasingly adjusted her stances minutely to help her move her body more fluidly. Of course, while she knew her great-granddaughter was aware of what he was doing, it was also clear that Shampoo was faking not understanding he was doing in order to trick him into continuously getting close to and touching her.

' _Sly move, my girl_ ,' she thought with a repressed grin of approval. ' _Still, this is going nowhere fast. We need to start trying to_ _ **push**_ _him_.' "Shampoo, start using the new techniques I taught you. Let's see how well your husband handles those."

"Okay!" the girl answered cheerfully. As she did, Ranma looked questioningly over at Cologne with a look of surprised interest on his face.

Using the opening provided by his distraction, Shampoo leapt forward and entered the Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken, throwing out hundreds of punches into his unprepared abdomen within a few seconds. For a few moments, Ranma reacted as anyone would when being caught off guard and assaulted in such a violent fashion. But then, his pained expression changed to one of annoyance and he quickly lashed out. Throwing Amaguriken-paced punches of his own, Ranma simultaneously blocked her attack while launching his own, pummeling her stomach. Shampoo quickly halted her attack due to this abuse, trying to jump away and regain her breath. However, Ranma pressed his attack. He lunged forward and thrust both his hands forward with his palms out and fingers curled as he slammed into her. It was a strange technique that neither Shampoo or Cologne had ever seen him use before. Whatever that technique was, it landed squarely on her breast plate, bending and twisting the metal from impact. The powerful blow sent Shampoo flying back to impact the wall with punishing force.

Watching his expression as he remained in that thrusting stance for a moment, Cologne stared hard at Ranma. His expression had changed from one of annoyance to focused intensity that she had never seen before on his face. In fact, she'd only ever seen such expressions on hardened warriors and war veterans. It had no place on the face of a young martial artist who treated all things not related to his hobby as mere annoyances and not to be taken seriously. But then, right before her very eyes, this hardened expression of his changed to one of horrified realization of what he'd done when he saw Shampoo slowly slide down from the crater she'd made on the wall.

"Gah! Not again. Shampoo! Are you okay?!" Ranma called out, rushing over to her to try and lend whatever kind of aid he could.

' _I see_ ,' Cologne thought to herself, only partially watching the young pair. ' _It's much more than just a powerup that he received. If it was only him somehow accidentally unlocking some repressed potential, then it would be a simple matter of him relearning his self-control. But it doesn't seem to be that. There seems to be a more mental aspect that's somehow connected to it. Whatever it is, it's forcing him to lash out and deliver new finishing attacks… Could this be a result of some kind of training regime he'd once undertaken but had been forgotten or suppressed at some point? If so, how does that tie into his strength increase and why is it only appearing_ _ **now**_ _?_ '

"Son-in-Law," Cologne called out, catching the young pair's attentions. "Spar with me. There is something I wish to see, personally."

Though suddenly looking understandably uncertain, the pigtailed boy nodded in compliance. "O-Okay. B-But don't blame me if I can't control myself."

"Kind of hypocritical to when I'm _asking_ for it," Cologne couldn't help snarking back, earning uncertain grins and chuckles from the teens.

* * *

"Stuffy old mummy," grumbled a long-haired and rather good-looking teenager.

This was Mousse, a Chinese Amazon and one of the employees of the Nekohanten. He was just returning to the kitchen with a heap of used dishes that a large family of those grubby and annoying Japanese customers had left behind after finishing their meal. Since it was Sunday, the café opened slightly earlier to accommodate the slightly increased business they usually got. But since it was still somewhat earlier than the lunch rush, they'd only had a comparatively small number of customers so far. Enough to keep them busy but in a rather relaxed fashion. But that didn't stop the annoyed comments that the spiteful waiter and part-time cook that was Mousse from uttering. In fact, it somewhat encouraged him since there were fewer customers around, so he could be a bit more vocal in his displeasure.

Moodily dumping the tray of dishes into the soapy waters of the large sink, Mousse set to work washing and cleaning them for the next batch of customers. He did this mostly on autopilot, his mind wandering off as his thoughts took control.

The source of his annoyance actually wasn't the fact that he had to work on a weekend, but because his dearly beloved future wife wasn't around. She'd been sent out on a string of deliveries across the district while he'd been stuck indoors tending to the walk-ins. Well, that and he had to constantly put up with the scheming Elder who'd taken up residence here. _Why_ did Elder Cologne have to be goddamn _insistent_ on keeping him away from his beloved so much?! They were in _Japan_ now! The village law dictating Shampoo's marriage to that barbarian and oaf, Saotome Ranma, were _irrelevant_ now!

Not only that, Ranma had shown multiple times over now that he had no interest at all in marrying Shampoo. Mousse knew as an _indisputable fact_ that Ranma fancied that Tendo girl above and beyond all of the others, regardless of how fervently he tried to deny it. That made the fact that he shamelessly and consistently flirted with and led Shampoo on all the more horrible to Mousse. Mousse could plainly see just how horrible a person Saotome Ranma truly was. He could clearly see that it was all an act. A means of bolstering his own pride and male ego. After all, most guys would've absolutely reveled in having so many beautiful women chasing after and courting them. As was clearly the case for Ranma! This was why Mousse _**hated**_ Ranma more than mere words could possibly explain and why he was so determined to get his dearly beloved away from that narcissistic aqua-transsexual.

It had absolutely _**nothing**_ to do with the fact that Mousse was positively jealous of the unconditional love and affection Shampoo often showered him with. Or the fact that Ranma was such an amazing fighter, even more so than himself. Or even the fact that he had such a harem in the first place! _Nope_ , his reasons for saving Shampoo were _purely_ self-less in that regard! He hated Ranma because he was such a scumbag of a person. _Honestly!_

' _I swear, if I had the power to, I'd wipe that arrogant ass off the face of the planet!_ ' Mousse hissed in his mind. ' _The insolent bastard is like 10-year-old brat! He has no idea of just how lucky he is at having the attentions of so many women chasing after him! Worse still, he treats Shampoo like trash! How she can see him as anything more than the selfish, privileged, and honor-less thug that he is, is beyond me!_ ' "AAAHHH! SHAMPOO, I _SWEAR_ I'LL _SAVE YOU_ FROM HIM!"

"QUIET, BOY!" a loud, annoyed voice snapped from the other side of the kitchen. It was Shampoo's father, the resident cook of the café. He glared over his shoulder at Mousse as he continued, "I have to listen to you ranting about that every day and I'm sick of it! Do it again, I'll send you back to China in your lockbox!"

This was no idle threat, Mousse knew. Though he wasn't in the top tier of his generation or had ever been a fulltime warrior, Shampoo's father was still a well-trained fighter who was stronger than Mousse. And the dislike he had for Mousse since he was a small child was a well-known fact. So, he wouldn't hesitate for a second to act on his threat. The only thing that had stopped him previously was the simple fact that Elder Cologne's presence had shielded Mousse, for whatever reason the old mummy might've had for keeping him around in Japan.

"Yes, sir," Mousse acknowledged quietly, turning back to his work with an angry pout and glare.

KKRRR- _ **BBBMMMMMNNN!**_

" _WHAT WAS THAT?!_ " Mousse cried out, recoiling in surprise as the building shook from a nearby explosion. Much to his relief, he had nearly fallen to the ground but managed to catch himself on the edge of the sink, slightly warping the metal under his frantic grip.

"It came from out back!" his fellow Amazon stated, also looking surprised and quite on edge. And he had a right to be as a sudden series of smaller explosions and crashes soon filled the air, only being slightly muffled by the backwall of the building.

Moving together, the two of them rushed to the backdoor and flung it open, leaping out and landing in defensive stance, prepared to defend their home, livelihood, and lives. But before they could really take in the situation, another and much closer explosion of force erupted only a few paces away from them, the air pressure of it knocked both of them off their feet. Landing heavily on the ground from the unexpected attack, the pair of them rolled with the impact, coming up in low crouches while searching for the threat.

Darting here and there about the back alley of the café, bouncing of the buildings, skidding across the ground, and colliding in midair with numerous machinegun-fast explosions, two dark blurs could be faintly made out. The flashes of white hair, the glimpse of a familiar wooden staff, and a green cheongsam revealed that one of the blurs was in fact Elder Cologne. The other, not-quite-as-fast blur was substantially larger, wearing a red shirt, and—

' _NO! Not him! It_ _ **can't**_ _be him! ANYBODY BUT_ _ **HIM!**_ ' Mousse screamed in horror internally. If ever there was a time that he truly wished he'd lost or not worn his glasses, it was right now!

The reasons behind Mousse's rapidly mounting horror were quite understandable when one stopped to think about it. Though he may bluster and rant like the best of them, Mousse was all-too-aware of the fact that his hated enemy and rival for Shampoo's heart was much stronger than he himself was. This was often why he had to resort to trickery and dishonorable tactics to try and fight him (not they never worked) while also routinely doubling his training in his own martial style. At this point, it was becoming increasingly obvious to him that he'd never be able to bridge the gap in strength or skill that existed between himself and Ranma. He just didn't have the potential or aptitude to make such tremendous gains as the Saotome heir did.

In a sort of defensive mentality to preserve his drive to win and to persevere against the mounting opposition, Mousse had started telling himself that Ranma's fighting ability was only the result of him constantly cheating, exploiting weaknesses, or any other innumerable means. And absolutely anything else that would allow him to not have to accept the fact that he was losing this war of martial attrition quite badly. But to see irrefutable proof that his hated enemy had suddenly somehow made yet another incomprehensible leap forward, far, _far,_ _ **far**_ beyond anything that Mousse could've ever hoped to catch up to anytime soon…

"Aiyah!" The only thing that could've torn Mousse out of his mounting breakdown was that one voice that chirped out just then. It was Shampoo, his beloved future-wife! Finally managing to tear his gaze away from the clash of titans that was happening before him, Mousse's dark demeanor quickly started to brighten as his gaze fell upon the purple-haired angel who was bracing herself against another portion of the café not too far away. However, his momentary happiness was terribly short-lived as he spotted her watching the fight with wide, sparkling eyes that hid _none_ of her rising desire. "Airen become too-too-TOO strong! Shampoo so happy!"

Something somewhere hidden deep inside Mousse _cracked_ and _broke_ when he heard her say that. And he'd never be the same person again as a result.

Fury, bloodlust, mind-numbing rage and hatred shot through the teenaged Amazon as he turned his gaze back to the red-shirted blur that he knew was the Saotome. In low voice that was lost among the crashes and explosions, Mousse growled out, "I will _kill_ you, Saotome Ranma. _I swear it_."

* * *

Skidding away from Cologne with his arms crossed before him, Ranma took a second to wince at the stinging that the old lady's latest strikes caused. That damn staff of hers might've been simple wood, but when she channeled her ki into it, it struck like wrecking ball! Lifting his gaze, Ranma stared up at his opponent from her spot on the top of the café where she'd landed. His chest was heaving in exertion, his lungs burning, his arms felt like lead and legs didn't want to move anymore, his feet and fists were numb from the uncountable numbers of strikes they'd been dishing out, and his torso throbbed from the many blows he'd earned from missing or improperly blocking the elder's attacks.

And yet, despite all of the abuse and growing exhaustion he felt, Ranma's grin was wider than it'd ever been before. A sense of fulfillment had settled upon him. Finally, _finally_ , he had an opponent that was pushing him to his limits! Someone worth fighting against! He'd not felt such a thing since…he wasn't sure when, to be honest. Only that he knew he had once felt this before and it had been several years now since then.

A happy laugh stuttered its way out of him. "Haha…hahaha… I gotta say… Cologne. This is…the most fun… I've had in a while!"

"I think I'd have to agree with you on that, son-in-law," the elder said, nodding in acknowledgement.

Then she flung herself down at him in a renewed attack but with nearly twice the previous speed she'd been moving at. Reacting on instinct, Ranma launched himself forward and brought a fist up to punch aside Cologne's incoming staff strike. But to his annoyance, the elder woman used his outstretched arm to dodge slightly to the side. Then, to Ranma's surprise, the old woman managed to capture his arm in a strong hold, locking his elbow joint in place by use of her staff. Before he could retaliate, she kicked him in his exposed side and sent him crashing to the concrete below.

Somersaulting in the air, Ranma was able to get his feet underneath him, landing heavy on the ground. Looking up, he had just enough to see Cologne rapidly descending towards him again. Bouncing to the side, he dodged her staff's strike that cratered the concrete where he had been. Lunging forward, he swung out a powerful sweeping jumpkick to knock her away like a football. But the old lady dropped fully to the ground and cleanly dodged him. Spinning around, Cologne swung her staff up towards his back as he shot overhead. Yet Ranma was ready for such an attack, using the momentum of his missed kick to carry him onwards and spin him around, bring up a knee and dropping his elbow, forming a strong line of defense that the staff bounced off of uselessly. Despite not penetrating, the blow still knocked him backwards through the air until he landed in a skid close to where the overawed spectators were watching and/or slightly cowering.

Rising and resetting his stance, Ranma was now visibly heaving for breath, his skin was glistening in sweat with his clothes noticeably stained in it, and his limbs were shaking very badly from the exertion. Seeing the state he was in, Cologne smiled tiredly as she landed on the ground and stood back up, no longer holding a fighting stance. "I believe that's enough. _Well done_ , Son-in-Law! That was a most _splendid_ demonstration! I _quite_ enjoyed myself just now!"

Panting loudly as he dropped his guard, Ranma dropped to the ground with a heavy sigh of relief. Hands on his knees, Ranma sent the old lady a strained smile, "Th-Thanks for the…good spar, Elder… Can we…do it again…later?"

"Oh, most assuredly!" Cologne agreed easily, smiling slightly.

" _Airen!_ That was _amazing!_ " Shampoo squealed in excited awe. She practically teleported over to his side and started wiping his sweaty brow down with a wet clothe, babbling so rapidly and incoherently, it sounded to Ranma like she was speaking another language… Oh wait, she was, Mandarin specifically. With as exhausted as he was, Ranma didn't bother trying to push her away, especially considering her actions were actually kind of welcomed this time.

Meanwhile, Cologne was watching their interaction with a calculating gaze, her mind replaying the spar closely. As always, the Saotome boy was truly a rare specimen with unaccountably great skill. He had demonstrated this quite well during the spar by how well he'd managed to adjust to his new strength and speed once she'd started picking up the pace and pushing him harder. Truthfully, that had been the most challenging and lively spar she'd had in decades. At least since from before the time Happosai had vanished when he'd been sealed away by his two oafish disciples. "I don't know how it happened, but if I had to guess just how strong you've become, I'd say you're about half of my current strength."

"Only _half_?" There was no mistaking the rather blatant disappointment in his voice when he said that. "Dammit!"

"Is that a problem?" Cologne asked, eyebrow arching questioningly.

"Kinda," he said blandly. "It means I'm still not strong enough to send that old letch packing for good!"

"Ahhhh," Cologne nodded in understanding. "Well, if you keep gaining strength at your earlier pace, along with this boost, I'd say you could finally manage that deed in about twenty years, give or take." Seeing the rather sour look on the boy's face, she added quickly, "Before all of this, it would've taken you about another _hundred_ years of hard training. The difference _**is**_ truly that great, Ranma. Just give it time. You'll get there."

Sighing heavily, Ranma dropped his head in disappointment but didn't contradict her statement. Seeing his slight depression, Shampoo shot him a happy smile as she leaned forward slightly to catch his attention, "Shampoo think Ranma get there in _five_ years! Just need right sparring partner!" Her vote of confidence caused a small but thankful smile to cross his face as he looked at her.

Then, in an act that was equal parts spontaneous and planned out, Shampoo suddenly leaned forward and gave her beloved a kiss on the lips. It was little more than a quick peck, there and gone between one second and another. But Ranma's reaction was as predictable as the rising tide with his face turning vibrant red and flailing wildly for a second before he finally managed to start scooting away from the Amazon girl in a slightly panicked shuffle, all the while stuttering out incoherent statements and questions. Through it all, Shampoo just remained where she'd been kneeling down, smiling demurely at his overreaction.

For some reason, that look she was giving him…it stirred _something_ within him. A strange feeling that he'd usually associated with Akane, when she was in one of her rare _good_ moods. But now he was feeling it for Shampoo? What was it? What was going on with him?!

But any further thought he might've tried to give that feeling was abruptly ended by a loud cry of total fury. Ranma had just enough time to recognize two distinct things. The first being that the voice was clearly Mousse and the second was he was _right behind him!_ Then his world exploded into bright lights and sparkling stars.

" _This outta be a good snack for us!" a small boy with wild, spiky black hair and strange brown monkey tail said, smiling widely as he dragged a large fish casually behind him. "Do you like fish too, friend?"_

" _It's…okay," he admitted, hesitantly, still pretty scared and feeling more and more lost with each passing moment. Where was he? Why was he here?_

"DIE, RANMA!" Mousse was screaming, his fury empowering his arms to swing the first weapon he'd grabbed out of his ki-space with all of the strength he could summon. Much to Mousse's dismay, this weapon just happened to be a stunted mace, more wood than metal with only stubby little spikes. He would've preferred to have grabbed something with a blade, so that he could've hacked the bastard's head clean off. But, alas, he'd just settle for bashing his head in!

 _A speeding car came to a screeching, sliding halt. But despite the driver's best attempts, it still managed to body-slam the black-haired kid hard enough to send him flying several meters before crashing into a tree. Ranma had been a bit luckier and reacted quicker, jumping at least two meters straight up and just missing being hit. Landing heavily upon the roof of the car, Ranma could hear the panicked voice of the driver, a teenaged girl from the sound it, crying out in a slightly distraught voice, "Yikes! Are they dead?!"_

Raising his mace for another powerful overhead strike, Mousse let loose another furious cry in preparation. But that was when a small foot buried itself into his side, sending him flying to the side while dropping his weapon and losing his glasses in the process.

"Mousse hurt Ranma!" Shampoo cried out in fury as she pulled out her chui from her own ki-space and lunging at him. "Shampoo kill!"

" _ **This is for hitting me!**_ _" the boy yelled out angrily as he heaved the car up and threw it several meters away. Ranma could only stare in shocked awe. He would've never thought the kid was_ _ **that**_ _strong! He looked like he was_ _ **scarcely**_ _older than himself after all!_

"Owww!" Ranma moaned out, rubbing the back of his head where he'd been struck. Thankfully, he didn't feel any blood, but it still felt like his entire brain was throbbing and his mind was on fire! "Wh-Wh-What was that?"

" _They're called Dragon Balls," the blue-haired girl said as she held out one of her own orange orbs alongside the one his new friend apparently owned. "See?"_

"Gah!" Ranma flinched again as another strong throb wracked his brain. Cradling and grasping his head, Ranma leaned painfully forward, face practically level with the filthy concrete. "Argh!"

" _Pit stop? What's that mean?" Goku asked naively from where he and Ranma were still seated on the strangely-designed motorcycle._

" _I need to pee, you lame-brain!" Bulma screamed back as she ran behind a large boulder._

"Son-in-Law?" Cologne asked, hurrying up to him with a worried expression on her face. Something was wrong. He wasn't reacting how he normally did whenever he got hit in the head. Most times he'd just brush it off, thanks to his high healing factor and remarkable pain tolerance. But now, it looked like he was really suffering. Could Mousse have somehow found an unknown soft spot on the boy? "Are you okay? What's wrong? Talk to me!"

"My-My-My head!" he groaned out, eyes clenching painfully. Somehow, he mustered up enough strength to push himself off the ground and sit upright. "Ooowwww! I think…Mousse got me…good this time…"

 _Jumping off the motorcycle, Goku looked off towards the boulder in confusion. "I don't get it. Why can't she just pee right here? Ranma, do you know?"_

" _Girls are weird like that, Goku," Ranma answered with all the wisdom a 9-year-old could muster. Goku just blinked back at him for a moment before nodding in confusion but also somewhat reluctant understanding._

"I don't think that's the problem," Cologne said bluntly, watching him closely.

"I-I-I'm fine," he gasped out, flinching as yet another strange image shot through his mind. Glancing painfully over at the old lady, he said, "You should worry… about Mousse instead…"

" _Shampoo,_ _ **wait**_ _! Let me—!_ " Mousse's voice cried out from somewhere close by. _KKKKR-_ _ **SSHHHHH!**_ " _AAHHHH!_ _ **WAIT**_ _, SHAMPOO!_ "

" _SHAMPOO MAD!_ " Shampoo yelled out, no doubt still pursuing her fellow Amazon.

"Yes, perhaps I should," Cologne said, glancing over towards where they heard the noise. But then she turned her attention back to Ranma.

"Go on," Ranma said before she could ask the obvious question. "I'll…manage…somehow…"

Sighing, Cologne nodded and then rushed off to restrain her great-granddaughter and severely discipline her part-time worker. She paused just long enough to acknowledge that Ranma was indeed climbing to his feet, if rather unsteadily, wincing badly while clutching his head.

' _I hope this…trauma will pass, and soon_ ,' Ranma thought as he slowly made his way back to the dojo. Flinching, he tried to push away yet another of the fragmented visions that were flashing through his head. Gasping as a particularly strong one made itself known, Ranma groaned. After a moment, he blinked and stared ahead blankly at the street in front of him. ' _Goku…Bulma… Why does these people seem so_ _ **familiar**_ _?_ '

* * *

( **Author's Note** ) I know you guys haven't asked for it, but I figured I'd post this first chapter. Depending on the reception it gets, we'll see if I continue writing this story. That means that if you want more, drop me a **review**!

 **Power Levels** :

Genma ( **age 41** ): 110  
Ranma ( **age 16** ): 105 (sealed), 220 (full power)

Ukyo ( **age 16** ):: 85

Soun ( **age 41** ): 90  
Akane ( **age 16** ): 60

Happosai ( **age…unknown** ): 330

Cologne ( **age…unknown** ): 380  
Shampoo ( **age 16** ): 90  
Mousse ( **age 16** ): 70

Ryoga ( **age 16** ): 95


	2. A Horse Runs Free

( **Author's Note** ) Well, by popular demand, here we go! Chapter Two of the story. I hope you all like it as much as I and **Fiori75** enjoyed coming up with it! I hope that you all will continue to leave us such supportive reviews and comments in the coming chapters. Also, if you see something that we missed or some kind of plot hole we'd accidentally created, don't be afraid to tell us! After all, how can we make this story any better if we aren't given any feedback from you guys? Even if there's nothing wrong with the chapter, please tell us what you liked about it. Reviews help to motivate us because they show that you guys actually like what we're doing here.

So, please continue to review!

 **.**

 **Son Ranma  
** By: Tellemicus Sundance  
Co-Authored by: Fiori75  
 _#02: A Horse Runs Free_

 **November 15, 1990**

Ukyo was finding herself to becoming increasingly worried for her dear Ranchan. These past few weeks had been all over the Richter scale for her and most of the Nerima Wrecking Crew thanks to that stupid gnome's Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion.

First, her dear Ranchan had lost all of his strength and was assaulted by most of the thugs and cowards of the school. That was when he was in about the lowest place she'd ever seen him in before. But then he'd regained some of his fire somehow and had approached her to help him and his father train in order to overcome Happosai so that Ranchan could get his strength back. And of course, thanks to that old Amazon's technique, that was exactly what happened in the end, though not before things started looking pretty bleak in places for the Saotome heir.

Ukyo hadn't stuck around long after Ranchan had gotten his strength back. But, based on how out of control he had been when she'd left, she had actually found herself thankful (for once) that they lived in separate abodes. The sheer mess he'd made of the Tendo household was probably _still_ being cleaned up and repaired, even almost two weeks later. Yet even after that little discourse, things were only now finally starting to settle down for a bit as life in Nerima picked back up where it'd left off. Most of the usual crap happened in school and centered around the Tendo Dojo. Ukyo meanwhile was content to just be a fly on the wall for the duration of it. She only really interacted with Ranchan during lunch hours or whenever her fiancée would pop up at her restaurant for a snack.

Yet even with that minimal amount of interaction, Ukyo had quickly noticed something was different about her Ranchan. He was exuding an aura of strength that was seemed monstrously larger than what it had been before. However, for reasons she wasn't certain of, he didn't seem to relish in this new strength of his. In fact, as the days progressed, he seemed to growing increasingly frustrated with it. While Ukyo considered herself a cook first and a martial artist second, she still felt reasonably sure in her growing belief that he was suffering from an inability to find his new limits. And with him not knowing just how to push himself hard enough to find those limits, since he now far surpassed anyone nearby who could or _wanted_ to push him that hard, this had the strange side-effect of causing boredom to set in. And with that boredom came the frustration and even barely contained anger in some instances.

And then, about five days ago, everything changed. Ranchan had explained it somewhat to her over lunch period on Monday. That he'd gotten into a spar with Cologne and had finally found his limits. But almost immediately afterwards, he'd been attacked and bashed in the head by a myopic duck, who had a very potent grudge against him for reasons Ranchan didn't want to discuss. As a result of that head bash, he'd started getting these strange flashes of images and scenes in his head that made no sense to him, about people he'd never met before, places he'd never seen before, creatures and animals that shouldn't exist in the real world. That _couldn't exist_ really, even by the skewed standards of Nerima. Such was the tale Ranchan had confessed to her, initially thinking that it was head trauma from his injury that would pass in time.

"I don't think it's passing, Ranchan," Ukyo said carefully from her spot behind the portable grill she was working at, cooking up a few okonomiyaki for a few of their classmates.

Her fiancée was crouched under a tree nearby, his empty bento beside him, trying to apparently enjoy the last vestiges of the warm sun before winter fully arrived with its bitter cold. However, that image of implied nonchalance and relaxation was getting continually broken every couple of moments as he'd wince, gritting his teeth in pain as his eyes momentarily lost their focus. But then, he'd rapidly jerk back, flinching somewhat from the obvious mental effort it took to reassert himself back to reality.

"Y-Yeah," Ranchan agreed slowly, glancing up at her with pained, slightly glazed over eyes with deep bags hanging underneath them. It was clear to her that ever since this latest incident had started, he'd been getting little – if any – sleep at night. "I…think you're right, Ucchan." Looking somewhat despondently to the ground in front of him, while also resolutely ignoring the angry glares he was receiving from his Tendo fiancée from where she was seated at her own little spot with her friends, he quietly murmured out, "I just wish…wish it'd go away already!"

"Have you been getting any sleep recently, Ranchan?" Ukyo asked politely, even knowing that his answer would be negative, as she served the last of the customers their meal and quickly started breaking down the grill, lunch hour would end fairly soon after all. "You look like you haven't slept in days."

"It's hard to sleep," he admitted tiredly, still gazing down at the ground. "These... 'flashes' keep popping up when I least expect them. And whenever I start to relax or nod off, they…get mixed up in my dreams."

"That must make them even more confusing," she guessed while closing and locking the grill shut, hoisting it up onto her back in preparation for transport, as she tried to smile at the man she loved.

"Yeah, I get like... maybe an hour or two before getting scared awake again," he said, his head starting to nod while his voice began trailing off. By the time Ukyo managed to look over at him, he'd already drifted to sleep sitting up.

"Poor Ranchan," Ukyo murmured to herself, crouching down in front of him. Even though she was reaching forward to shake him awake, she couldn't help staring slightly at his sleeping face. 'He looks so happy and peaceful when he sleeps. It's hard to imagine that he's having such…nightmares.' Before she had the chance to jostle him, the lunch bell rang out, startling him awake, which reflexively caused her to flinch away like she'd touched something hot. This turned out to be a good thing.

"Goku! It's mine!" he gasped out, eyes still bleary as his hands fumbled about in a vain attempt to grab something that wasn't there. Had Ukyo not moved away as quickly as she did when she was startled, he'd have accidentally groped her. Ukyo realized this quickly and a slight flush colored her face as she watched him come back to himself, blinking fiercely before staring up at her.

"Gah, sorry," he mumbled, looking down somewhat stupidly at his still reaching hands.

"No worries," she reassured him, grasping one of his hands and pulling him to his feet. "Goku? Who's Goku, Ranchan?"

"… I-I don't know, Ucchan. I just… I think he might be important," Ranma admittedly even as his other hand started to scratch the back of his head sheepishly.

For Ranma, it had been several days since he had limped back to the Tendo Dojo, nursing a terrible migraine. At first, he'd thought that the strange mental flashes would fade in time as his normal accelerated healing would correct whatever was wrong with him. But after more than six hours of continuous pain, he had been forced to realize and admit that it wasn't working. He didn't even get any relief while sleeping, as the fragmented chaos invaded his dreams. And while it wasn't physically painful, the visions were even worse since they seemed to lose their cohesion with one another, filling his head with a fragmented and disorganized mess that followed no chronological order at all.

Next he'd tried some simple medicine to retard the pain and hope that the pharmaceutical chemicals would kick-start his healing. And for a time, they did actually work. Sure, they only dulled the pain, but they had managed reduced the flashes to being barely noticeable. That had been more than acceptable for Ranma in the short term. But, again, as time wore on, the drugs became less and less effective as they'd started out as. By the end of the second day, he was back to where he'd started with the pills scarcely giving him more than ten minutes of relief before wearing off again, even if he scarfed down whole _handfuls_ of the damn things!

So distracted was Ranma that he sadly didn't notice the approaching presence of someone he quite despised. He didn't notice this demented person's presence until he felt the horrifying sensation of a live buzzer raking across the back of his head, cutting off his pigtail in one smooth swipe. "GAH! DAMMIT!" he screamed in shocked horror and surprise as he reflexively grasped for where his pigtail once hung.

A familiar demented laugh erupted behind him as he and Ukyo spun around. There stood the exotic form of the Principal, waving his newest trophy proudly. "Kehehehehe! Da big kahuna finally g'tcha!"

"GIVE THAT BACK, YA DEMENTED TREE-BRAIN!" Ranma screamed, lunging forward with his arm outstretched to grab his pigtail. Despise the Principal's best efforts, Ranma easily blitzed forward, grabbing the man's hand in an iron grip. His grip was so strong that the loud cracks of multiple small finger bones shattering could be easily heard. At least until the Principal started crying out in surprised agony, reflexively dropping the pigtail. Catching the pigtail out of midair, Ranma spun the Principal around before rearing back his leg to deliver a powerful kick that sent the man flying across the horizon, all the while crying out in pain over his crushed hand.

Ukyo could only stare in dumbfounded confusion at Ranma. Not just because of what he'd done to the Principal, but because she could quietly literally see Ranma hair starting to grow at an accelerated and unnaturally quick rate. But, as Ranma quickly but calmly unwound his hair tie and retied it around the end of his hair, the sudden growth spurt ended abruptly. The boy let loose a heavy sigh of relief when that happened.

"Ranchan?" Ukyo said, speaking softly and almost hesitantly as she watched her glance over at her.

"I'm fine," Ranma said simply, giving her a slightly unsteady smile of reassurance. Although that wasn't what she'd wanted to ask, Ukyo nodded in acceptance anyway. Clearly, Ranma didn't want to talk about what he'd just done to the Principal.

"How dare you!" a young voice cried from behind them. Turning around, they found themselves confronted by the childish form of Ms. Hinako Ninomiya. She was already whipping one of her coins and pointing it at Ranma and Ukyo. "Delinquents must be punished! Happōgojūensatsu!"

Being on the edge of the suction, Ukyo was able to quickly jump to the side and dodged the surprise attack. But Ranma just stood in place, unmoving and glaring angrily at the small girl who was stealing some of his aura. The suction only lasted for five seconds, but Ranma remained upright and glaring throughout it. At the end of those five seconds, the little child rapidly grew back into her adult form while lowering her coin with a triumphant grin on her face, expecting to see a fully drained and incapacitated delinquent laid out on the ground. To her and the rest of the spectating crowd of students' surprises, Ranma still stood strong and straight, with only a twitching eye to show his annoyance and anger towards his English teacher for the attack.

"I can't deal with this crap today," Ranma growled out, turning away. He started walking for the wall around the school. "I'm going home!" Before Hinako could object or attempt to restrain him somehow, he'd already vanished into the winds from powerful leap away.

Ukyo could only stare with a look of concern up at his rapidly vanishing form with his new and very long hair flapping in the winds. But that look soon changed to one of resolution as she quietly muttered, "I need to go to the dojo later and find out what's been happening. This is _not_ normal, even for Ranchan."

* * *

After an impromptu haircut and trim, Ranma had hoped he'd get a little peace and quiet once he got back to the Tendo house and tried to hide in his room, wanting to block out the rest of the world. But, alas, it was not meant to be. Shortly after the phone started ringing, he heard the thunderous stomps of a large form barreling up the stairs.

"BOY!" Genma cried as he pried the door open and rushed for his son. "You're in trouble now!" Ranma had just enough time to look up and see his father's flying kick heading for his face before he was sent flying out of the open window. Predictably, he landed with a large splash in the much-abused koi pond

Shaking her head clear of water as she rose back to the surface, Ranma screamed out angrily at her father, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

"I just heard what you'd done to the Principal, boy!" Genma snapped as he dropped to the ground with a disappointed glare on his face. "I have _**never**_ been more ashamed of you than I am now! Assaulting your principal just because he cut your hair?! Such a thing is how a _common thug_ would act! I _thought_ I taught you better than that! Ooooh! The _shame!_ The _**dishonor**_ you've brought to our family, boy! _Clearly_ , we need to revisit your training in self-control and principles far more urgently than I'd first assumed!"

"Shut up, you lazy bum!" Ranma shot back, shooting forward to try and deliver a savage punch to her father's massive gut. Though, to his credit, Genma had been expecting such an attack and was easily able to dodge it. Despite not being as fast as Ranma had become recently, he still knew his son's fighting style like the back of his hand and almost as well as his own. "You _never_ taught me how to be an honorable warrior! You taught me how to be _thief_ , not a martial artist!"

This rebuttal surprised Genma as he sprung back and dodged a sweeping kick from his current-daughter. That response was far more…eloquent than what he'd expected Ranma to give back. The surprise that incurred from the fat martial artist caused Genma to automatically revert back to old tactics. "You will _respect_ your father, boy!"

"Respect?" Ranma repeated, settling into a ready stance while glaring heatedly over at him. "Respect _you?_ Like how you've respected _me?_ Okay! _Maybe I will!_ Should I _sell you_ to a zoo for a _bowl of rice and two pickles?_ Or maybe we could sell _your hand_ in marriage for once _instead of mine!_ "

 _That_ response really caught Genma off-guard. But beyond a quirk of his eyebrow, he kept his surprise off his face. After a moment of quiet staring between them, Genma slowly stood up and relaxed out of his ready stance. "Clearly, you need some time to cool off. Go walk around the district and don't come back until you've calmed down! We'll continue this discussion _later_."

"Oh, you can be _sure_ of that, old man!" Ranma shot back, turning a leaping over the wall without another word.

' _I need to speak with Soun about this_ ,' Genma thought as he turned around to go find his friend. ' _The boy's starting to seriously become too headstrong. This could complicate things if he starts to…revert back_.'

* * *

It was mid-afternoon. School had just let out and all of the students were hurrying home, either to finish their homework, attending afterschool clubs or sporting activities, or amusing themselves with their favorite hobbies. For two particular young girls, they were walking along the streets for the Tendo Dojo in amicable silence. They may not have always gotten along, especially whenever there was an incident involving the boy they both liked. But they tended to be on friendly terms whenever something like that _wasn't_ an issue.

"So," Akane began, finally breaking the silence between them as they neared her home. "Why are you going to the dojo?"

"Something weird's been going on with Ranchan recently," Ukyo stated, not seeing any reason to hide the truth. "I just wanted to see how it was going at home. Things seemed…tense between you two lately."

Though she somewhat bristled at the statement, Ukyo's calm and amicable tone disarmed her of any reflexive angry retort she might've mustered. After a moment to calm her slight surge of anger, Akane let out a long, slow sigh as she said, "Yes. Things have been tense. Ever since that damn moxibustion incident ended, Ranma's just become unbearable to be around these days."

' _Typical Akane_ ,' Ukyo thought in annoyance. ' _Always placing the blame on Ranchan_. _Sure, he might be a bit of a jerk at times, but_ _ **she**_ _can be just as bad_.'

But she didn't voice this thought, knowing it'd antagonize the girl. Instead, she held her silence as they neared the Tendo residence. Passing through the gate, they heard the familiar whacking sounds of a fist striking wood emanating from the backyard as usual. Without needing to speak to one another, both girls quickly hurried through the house, Akane pausing only to drop off her schoolbag next to the stairs, as they headed for their destination. The source of the noise was predictably Ranma punching a large tree log that had been driven into the ground. With just a glance, Ukyo could see that between the two of them, the log was losing the war of attrition against Ranma's toughened skin. Plainly shown by the numerous fragments of bark broken off, large cracks lacing through the wood, and numerous splinters of different sizes littering the ground. The most that Ranma showed for any type of damage was a slight red coloring along his knuckles.

"You'd better clean that mess up when you're done," Akane said, foregoing a polite greeting as usual, glaring at the boy with simmering anger and slight jealousy.

"Hey, Akane, Ucchan," Ranma greeted back as he glanced over at them, not stopping his exercise.

"Hi, Ranchan," Ukyo greeted with a smile and a wave.

"I heard what you did to the Principal today," Akane said, walking forward slightly and planting her hands on her hips. "Why did you do that? You know that he isn't as strong as us. He's in the hospital now, you know!"

Stopping his punching, Ranma turned to look at Akane with a confused expression on his face, eyebrow cocked slightly. "So what? That means we're finally free of his antics for the next…two weeks? Maybe?"

Despite herself, a reflexive smile broke out across Ukyo's face at that statement. As a direct witness to the event that led to the Principal's hospital visit, Ukyo found that her sympathy for the lunatic to be quite low. The bastard got what was coming to him as far as she (and Ranchan) was concerned. Sadly, Akane clearly didn't share this point of view.

"Ranma!" the Tendo girl snapped back in a disciplinary tone as her anger deepened at his lack of empathy. "You know most people can't heal as fast you! Nabiki says that he's going to be in there for at least _three months!_ "

"Sooo," Ranma drawled out. "What I'm hearing is ' _Thank you_ , Ranma! We have one less _Kuno_ to deal with for the time being!'"

As Akane's temper predictably began to boil over, a hissing voice drew Ukyo's attention to the side. It was the fathers, Soun and Genma. Genma was whispering in a hurried voice to his friend while pointing urgently and quite blatantly towards Ranma and Akane's budding argument. Seeing the Tendo patriarch's reddening face, Ukyo sidestepped away from the entrance and did her best to imitate a fly on the wall. Sure enough, like clockwork, Soun came bursting into the washitsu with his raging demonhead in place.

" _RANMA!_ " he cried out, shoving his massive face into Ranma's personal space. "YOU WILL _RESPECT_ YOUR FIANCEE _RIGHT NOW!_ "

Unlike all prior times Soun had done this to him directly, Ranma didn't falter or crumble into a pitiful pile begging for forgiveness or immediately comply with the demand. Instead, he idly waved his hand in front of his face, as though trying to clear the air of a repulsive stink. But considering Soun's cigarette addiction, he probably was. Yet it also had to surprising effect of 'popping' the demonhead technique and returning Soun back to his normal state. The sheer brazenness that this simple act from Ranma brought both fathers up short momentarily. _Nobody_ but the hated Grandmaster had ever treated Soun's technique so dismissively before!

"Respect?" Ranma repeated, glaring slightly over at him for a second. "Like _she_ has been respecting _me_?"

His strong stance and accusation might've had a greater impact if a sudden and painful pulse hadn't shot through his head at that moment, causing him to wince mightily and cradle his head in agony. Seeing the opening, both fathers pounced on it, determined to _literally_ beat some respect for them and Akane back into the Saotome heir. Despite being in pain, Ranma was still aware enough to sense their approach. Rather than face them head on, he simply dropped onto his back, bringing his legs up and catching both fathers on his feet. From there, it was a simple matter of rolling with the momentum to kick them up and over him, sending them flying into a tumbling fall and ultimately landing comically in the koi pond. It was a pair of very disgruntled and soaked fathers, one fuming man and one growling panda, that emerged, sending angry glares over at the slowly recovering Ranma.

Ukyo's smile from earlier hadn't faded in the least during this whole encounter. In fact, seeing Ranchan so easily manhandle the one man she hated above all others caused her smile to widen significantly. The only thing that would've been better was if _she_ could've done it herself. ' _Oh well, we can't have everything we want_.'

Quiet chuckling from Ranma drew her attention. Having recovered from his sudden mental attack, he was cracking his knuckles as he started walking slowly and menacingly towards the recovering fathers. Ranma shot them a cocky sneer as he said, " _Ahhh!_ Stress relief! _Thank you_ for that!"

"RANMA!" Akane yelled, having finally lost her temper. She charged for Ranma's back while materializing her favorite mallet and was already swinging. " _STOP HURTING MY DAD!_ "

That was when something strange happened. When the mallet hit the back of Ranma's head, it didn't send him flying as it always did before. Instead, it shattered against the back of his head like it was made of glass. Ranma did stumble somewhat, hunching forward from the impact, but that was all. Akane, by contrast, had frozen up as she stared dumbfoundedly and very much scared at the broken end of her mallet. This fear only deepened all the more when Ranma slowly, oh so slowly, turned his head to look over at her.

The cold look in his eyes was _just_ short of murderous as he ground out, "Are you volunteering to join them?"

In the inner recesses of her mind, Akane was screaming in terror as she seemed to witness her worst nightmare begin to take shape. She had known from the very first day they'd met that Ranma was far, _far_ stronger than she was. And that, if he were ever inclined, he could force himself on her and do…all sorts of _unmentionable_ and perverted things to her. But the part that _**really**_ scared her was her own uncertainty that once he'd started, she might not want him to _stop!_ She had seen it happen all the time during her childhood, how girls after a certain point started becoming perverts themselves. It had deeply disturbed and disgusted her back then. But as she grew older and began experiencing the growing pains and transformations of her own body into that of a young adult, that disgust had been redirected towards herself. This fear of her own body and its impulses, as well as her desire to not become a raving pervert like so many other older girls became, was a large part of why she hated boys so much. Granted, she often greatly misunderstood or exaggerated these things even in her own mind, but that only compounded the issue all the more.

Thus, it was only natural that upon seeing Ranma starting to show just a _hint_ of cold aggression and exerting his own strength over others, especially her own father, _her protector_ , that Akane fell back on her only tried and true method protecting herself. She gave into her anger as a defense mechanism. But since her own strength wouldn't work here, that left just insults to keep him at bay. And she used this last resort weapon with absolutely _no_ remorse and to best of her ability. " _You know what, Ranma! Maybe Kuno was_ _ **right**_ _about you!_ _ **You are a villain!**_ _A treacherous cheat_ _ **with no honor!**_ "

Total silence filled the backyard as soon as those words slipped from her mouth. In a small corner of her mind, Akane realized that _maybe_ she'd gone too far with that one. But the rest of her was too busy relishing in her perceived victory as she watched the shock and genuine hurt filter across Ranma's face for a moment. It had felt _**so good**_ to finally put him in his place! But then, like a blast from an arctic wind, Ranma's face cleared and his expression turned to an almost neutral but ice-cold emptiness. Without saying a word, he simply turned and launched himself into the air, leaping over the Tendo's wall and sailing out across the street and several buildings before vanishing from sight.

Akane's victory grin was on full display. ' _Finally! That showed him!_ '

A quick and hard slap to her face knocked that grin off her face. Gently holding her stinging face, Akane stared up at Ukyo in surprise, having honestly forgotten of the Kuonji's presence. Ukyo was sending Akane a furious glare as she coldly said, "That was uncalled for." Before Akane could fire off a rebuttal, Ukyo turned and quickly ran off, leaping over the fence, and began roof-hopping at her best speeds to follow after Ranma.

' _That…That…That cold and utter_ _ **bitch**_ _!_ ' Ukyo was raving in her head. ' _That was_ _ **completely**_ _uncalled for! Even for her, she'd gone_ _ **too far**_ _!_ '

"Gah!" a familiar voice cried out, cutting through Ukyo's inner rant with ease. Skidding to a stop on the roof she was, Ukyo looked down at the street. She saw a freshly-splashed redhead on her knees and once again cradling her head.

Leaping down near the redhead, Ukyo easily dodged the old woman as she threw another scoop of water onto the street. Rushing up to Ranchan, she grasped her shoulders as she asked in as soothing a voice as she could, "Are you okay, Ranchan? What's wrong?!"

"That's _it!_ " Ranchan ground out between clenched teeth. "I've _HAD_ it!" Another jolt shot through her head, silencing her for a moment. Once the pain had passed somewhat, she glanced blearily up at her friend. "Ucchan…? Could you take…take me to the Nekohanten? Right now!"

Though surprised, Ukyo nodded, slinging the redhead's arm over her shoulders. "Sure, but why?"

"I want these…headaches gone!" Ranchan managed to grit out again before wincing as another suddenly flared up. This obvious pain only spurred Ukyo to heft Ranchan completely onto her shoulders and take off in a sprint for the Chinese restaurant.

Though she was still somewhat new to the district and learning all of the little nooks and crannies that were hidden here and there, Ukyo did know where the Nekohanten was located. She'd seen it a few times while she traveled through the city. Oh, she'd heard plenty of rumors about the place, especially about the strange, exotic, and beautiful Amazons (both the waiter and waitress) that worked there. But she never really put much stock in those rumors, focusing more on what they represented to her as a fellow business owner: rivals for customers. It wasn't until she met Cologne while helping Ranma train recently that she really started to understand just what these 'Chinese Amazons' were all about, as well as the rumors that the waitress was also gunning for Ranchan's hand in marriage for some reason. Why Ranchan wanted to go there to 'get rid of' these unusual headaches was somewhat of a mystery to her. ' _Maybe he thinks Cologne has some secret ancient Chinese medicine…? Well, as long as it's_ _ **just**_ _that and_ _ **not**_ _to have him try to get another girl draped over his lap, I don't care._ '

Carrying the limp and heavy bulk of Ranchan over her shoulders slowed Ukyo down greatly, but she still managed to find and arrive at the small Chinese restaurant within a few minutes. Bursting through the front doors slightly, she looked around for someone to help, particularly Cologne.

"Nihao!" a cutesy female voice called out from the side. Looking over towards it, Ukyo spotted the curvaceous and beautiful figure of a purple-haired girl near her age bent over slightly an empty table that she'd been clearly in the process of washing and wiping down. Almost immediately, Ukyo could see that all of those rumors about this girl were true. She truly was a beauty of rare stock. From the way her eyes latched onto Ranchan's limp form before jetting over to her own with an almost accusing and angry glare as her face lost its welcoming smile and turned into a disgruntled scowl, Ukyo could also see that another trend of the rumors was also startlingly accurate as well.

In the same moment of time that Ukyo was sizing up what she realized was a new rival for Ranchan's attention, Shampoo was doing the same to Ukyo. While Ukyo didn't have nearly the same figure as herself and clearly took plains to try and hide what she did have under the okonomiyaki's uniform, the new girl did still show off her toned and well-muscled legs under those tight pants. But there was only so much that uniform could do to hide the sizable mounds on her chest. Combine that with an admittedly cute face and Shampoo could see that _this girl_ (unlike the violent Tendo girl) would be a true rival for the boy she was casually carrying over her shoulders. For just a moment, the two rivals glared at one another so fiercely that one could be forgiven if they thought the two possessed burning auras of barely contained fury around their figures as savage bolts of lightning clashed between them.

A pained moan from Ranma killed the tense atmosphere like a gunshot.

"Aiyah! Airen!" Shampoo cried, abandoning the table and racing over to her beloved. Working with Ukyo, she helped maneuver the semi-conscious martial artist into a nearby chair. "What wrong, Airen?! Shampoo help!"

"Shampoo—?" Ranma's eyes opened and stared blearily, almost uncomprehendingly up at her for a long moment. "Can you…Formula 119? …Please?"

Though Ukyo looked only further confused by the strange request, Shampoo's eyes gained a calculating gleam as she tried to understand what Ranma was asking of her. Formula 119 was meant to restore memories, not to ease headaches, no matter how crippling they might've been. Ranma knew this too, she knew. So, why would he go out of his way to ask her this? Did he think that someone had…? Even as that partial thought filtered through her brain, Shampoo realized that it _probably_ was true, and this was _Ranma_ after all! Magic, mind-control, curses, and all other manner of bad karma always seemed to be drawn towards him like gravity!

"Okay!" Shampoo chirped agreeably, already turning to rush back to her room. "Wait here! Shampoo be back!" She raced upstairs and into her room's closet, digging through the various knickknacks that had piled up in there since she'd arrived. She hadn't used any of her memory shampoos since her first arrival here, so predictably they were all buried at the very back and bottom of the junk in her closet. Normally, she'd have gone slower and tried to be neater as she rifled through her things, but Ranma was in pain and needed help fast! Finally finding what she needed, she raced back downstairs and found Ranma and the chef girl where she'd left them.

Immediately, Shampoo went to work with giving Ranma a hair wash. Once Ranma's hair was thoroughly cleaned and soaked with the skin of her scalp nicely moistened, Shampoo squirted the Formula 119 into her hands and went to work. As she worked the shampoo into Ranma's wet red hair, her fingers played over the many pressure points on her head, feeling out what needed to be done. Shampoo quickly found herself frowning at what she found. Many of the pressure points had been closed, blocking off certain pieces of Ranma's memory and personality.

It wasn't until she reached the back of her Airen's skull, the place where she remembered Mousse striking him during his spar with her great-grandmother, that she found what had been causing so much pain for Ranma. Apparently, one of the closed pressure points had been jarred open thanks to Mousse's clumsy but powerful strike. And since it was located on the metaphorical edge of the delicate web of closed points, this forcefully opened point was what was flooding Ranma's head with those flashes. But because it was also on the 'edge' of the construct, the rest of the pressure points were still trying to suppress and hide whatever it was they were hiding. This constant clash between hiding the memories and opening up to them was what was causing him so much pain.

Understanding what was needed, Shampoo began the long and meticulous process of easing open all of those closed points and tearing down the structure that had been built within his mind to hide the memories. Well, 'long' was a bit misleading. The entire process only took about five minutes to the normal human eye. But Shampoo's hands had been blurring out of sight throughout the entire process, moving at Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken-level speeds as she opened the points. It should be noted that while she was trained with using the Amaguriken, using it for sustained activity quickly puts a large strain on the body, which is why most users of the technique often kept themselves restrained to just a few seconds' worth of time. So, by the time Shampoo finally gave Ranma's hair that last splash of water to wash out the lingering suds, her arms were positively _**burning**_ and fell weakly to her sides momentarily once she was done.

Ukyo had watched this whole thing with wide eyes. Though confused, she kept quiet about what the strange Chinese girl was doing after seeing the look of intense concentration on her face. Whatever it was she was up to with Ranchan's hair, it seemed that it required her full attention. Who knows what kind of unexpected and unintentional side-effects might occur to Ranchan if this girl got distracted midway through whatever she was doing?! So, wisely, Ukyo just watched and waited with barely contained impatience.

Following the final wash, Ranma let out a loud cry of pain, grasping her head tightly as the full and unfiltered amount of repressed memories flooded back into her consciousness. Very quickly, this flood became too unbearable for her mind to process in one fell swoop. Her eyes rolled up into her head as she started falling limply to the side, just barely being caught by the two girls beside her. But before she could fall fully unconscious, Ranma was just able to weakly slur out, "Oh, thhhaaaat _dick!_ "

Supporting Ranma between them, Ukyo and Shampoo looked up at one another with questioning eyes, hoping the other might understand what the last curse meant. After a moment of silence, Shampoo cocked an eyebrow as she asked, "Genma?"

"Genma," Ukyo agreed with a firm nod. After all, her main philosophy these days usually went along the lines of: when in doubt, blame Genma Saotome. Thus far, she had _yet_ to be proven wrong.

"Alright, you two," an old voice from behind them spoke up, surprising both girls and causing both to turn to face Elder Cologne from where she stood a few paces away. "What's going on?"

* * *

 **Power Levels** :

Ranma ( **age 16** ): 105 (sealed), 220 (full power)

Ukyo ( **age 16** ):: 85

Soun ( **age 41** ): 90  
Kasumi ( **age 19** ): 5  
Nabiki ( **age 17** ): 5  
Akane ( **age 16** ): 60

Happosai ( **age…unknown** ): 330

Cologne ( **age…unknown** ): 380  
Shampoo ( **age 16** ): 90  
Mousse ( **age 16** ): 70

Ryoga ( **age 16** ): 95


	3. A Horse Learns to Fly

**.**

 **Son Ranma  
** By: Tellemicus Sundance  
Co-Authored by: Fiori75  
 _#03: A Horse Learns to Fly_

 **May 7, Age 753**

It was with an exhausted grin on his face that young Ranma landed heavily on the ground in a deep crouch, his hands almost needed to stop himself from faceplanting. He was covered in bruises, cuts, and small bloody scrapes. His red Turtle School fighting gi was torn in places, most noticeably on his left knee and there was a charred hole on his back where he'd been nailed by a ki blast. But for all of the abuse he'd endured, the young 13-year-old had never felt quite as satisfied as he did now.

Heaving for breath as he straightened himself and lifted his arms into a defensive stance, Ranma lifted his head to look up at his opponent. The tall, bald monk with three eyes just continued to glare at him, though not quite as hotly as he had earlier. Ranma could tell that despite his general bad attitude and stated desire to be an assassin like that asswipe Mercenary Tao, he too had started losing himself to the enjoyment of the fight.

"Fine, I'll admit it," Tien stated from where he was once again standing in his Crane stance. His body was also covered in scrapes and bruises, a thick sweat causing his skin to gleam in the sunlight, and heavy pants also wracking through his very muscled chest. "You are far stronger than I first gave you credit for. Making it to the Semifinals is no small thing, especially for you being the youngest kid here. I can see why you were able to reach the Quarterfinals in the last tournament."

Chuckling at the compliment he'd gotten, Ranma nodded in agreement and acknowledgement. "You're an _awesome_ fighter too! Even though I wanted to spar with aniki, I'm _glad_ we got to play together!"

Although his face didn't show it, Ranma could see from the gleam of his eyes that his comment had annoyed Tien greatly. It was kind of understandable, given how starkly different they and their martial arts masters' schools were from one another. The Crane School was focused on dominating their opponents, winning at any cost, and being utterly ruthless in the process. By contrast, the Turtle School was far more relaxed, seeing and finding joy in the competition, and pushing oneself to improve for the sake of improvement. Goku and Ranma both embodied these aspects of their master's style perfectly. And it was clearly a philosophy that the monk before him was unaccustomed to fighting against. But at the same time, the young boy's genuine joy and love of fighting had been steadily chipping away at his own mental fortitude and conditioned mindset for the majority of the fight. Tien had been quietly trying to and then slowly starting to understand how and why Ranma was so carefree in the midst of such a fierce battle.

"I'm about on empty," Ranma confessed, earning Tien's attention. Settling his stance in a rather familiar one, Ranma shot him a cocky grin, "What do you say we settle this in one last clash?"

Smirking widely, Tien nodded, "That sounds fine to me. You're going to lose regardless."

"Ka – me – !" the boy chanted in response, cupping his hands at his side as a bead of blue-white ki formed between them. "Ha – me – !"

"Dodan—!" Tien said, focusing his ki into the tip of his finger. A bright golden-orange bulb of energy formed, its light quickly growing brighter as Tien focused more and more power into it. Judging he had enough power, he jabbed his finger towards the young teenager as he unleashed his attack. "Pa!"

Seeing the incoming energy, Ranma thrust his cupped hands forward and sent his own attack forward. "HA!"

The clash of white and golden energy in the center of fighting ring was spectacular but blinding. Most of the audience had to turn away or shield their eyes from the clash of energies. Loud cries erupted from them, giving voice to their fear, excitement, annoyance, and all types of other emotions that this match and overall tournament had drawn out. Meanwhile in the ring, Ranma was straining mightily, trying to feed a continuous stream of his remaining ki into his attack, trying to overpower that of his opponent's beam. But his stamina was fading quickly. He wasn't going to make it!

"Nice try, kid!" Tien yelled over the clash of their attacks. "But this fight _is – now –_ _ **over**_ _!_ "

With a strong surge of ki, the Dodanpa began pushing the Kamehameha back. Then, as Ranma's ki finally gave out, the golden beam punched cleanly through the weakened Kamehameha and slammed into the boy's gut with all the force of a freight train. Ranma didn't even have time to cry out before he was sent rocketing backwards from the force of it, slamming into and through the dividing wall that protected the audience. The spectators in that area cried out in surprise and alarm as the wall suddenly exploded in front of them with the body of one of the competitors came smashing through and crashing among them.

" _Ring out!_ " the blonde announcer declared, perhaps one of the few people who wasn't crippled by the blinding clash thanks to his sunglasses. "Contestant Ranma is _out of bounds!_ Contestant Tien is the _winner!_ "

As the crowd erupted in applause, Tien continued watching his opponent for a moment. Weakly pushing himself off his back while cradling his throbbing gut, Ranma shot Tien a satisfied grin and gave a small thumbs-up. This simple act, a show of good sportsmanship, caused the angry grimace of Tien to ease up slightly. The acknowledgement of a good fight from his opponent, and the clear desire for a future rematch… It touched something in Tien's psyche. ' _This was…a good fight… I… rather liked it_.' It wouldn't be until later on in the tournament that the implications of this quiet revelation would dawn on him.

Managing to force himself onto his feet, Ranma made his way back to the contestant waiting area. Though he was very tired, he had exceptional endurance. So, while he was still quite tired, the short walk back had allowed him to catch his second wind somewhat. He had just barely entered the room before he found himself embraced by his friends and fellow disciples, Goku and Krillin.

"Wow!" Goku was cheering as he rushed up to his friend after dropping down from his usual spot up on the wall overlooking the fighting ring. "That was an _intense_ fight, otouto!"

"Way to go, Ranma!" Krillin called out from next to Goku, waving his arm.

"Thanks, guys!" Ranma said, grinning up at them widely. "I can't wait to see you guys next!"

"Yeah, it's gonna be an awesome fight!" Goku said, nodding as he shot Krillin a challenging grin.

"And you better not hold back on me, Goku!" Krillin stated. "Or I will never forgive you for it!" Goku just continued to smile as he fist-bumped him in agreement.

"Will Contestants Goku and Krillin please make their way to the ring?!" the announcer called out over the microphone.

"I'll see you guys in a little bit!" Ranma promised as he headed for the restrooms and the waiting shower. Yes, he wanted to see his friends fight, but he wasn't enthused about doing that while still wearing the rags of his former gi and stinking of sweat and blood. Besides, a quick 1-minute shower and a change of clothes shouldn't cause him to miss out on too much of their fight after all.

"See ya!" Krillin acknowledged as he and Goku turned for the ring.

' _Man, I sure learned a lot in that fight with Tien!_ ' Ranma thought as he reviewed everything that had happened a few minutes earlier. He had been forced to go all-out against the larger teen from the start. Unlike his best friend, Goku, Ranma wasn't blessed with almost-inhuman strength and power. A situation made even worse due to his very young age and small body which only recently started to show signs of a coming growth spurt. So, he had trained himself to use speed, agility, and superior fighting techniques to overcome that limitation until his body finally started maturing and allowed him to gain that lacking strength.

Tien wasn't burdened with that limitation, already being fully grown and in the prime of his life. But just because he wasn't limited like Ranma didn't mean that he didn't have his work cut out for him. Like Ranma, he had been forced to rely more on speed than his strength in order to land any type of blows on his wily and slippery opponent. Granted, those strikes that he did land _hurt!_ Very quickly, Tien seemed to realize that he couldn't catch up with Ranma's speed through normal means, so he broke out a few of his School's techniques to level the field.

The Taiyoken had been a surprise, but nothing that Ranma couldn't overcome. Although the fact that he had to resort back to using some of the fighting techniques of _his father_ had very much disgusted him after the fact. The Dodanpa was nothing he'd not see before. It was still a bit of a surprise to learn that it had been developed by the Crane School. But the thing that had Ranma the most ecstatic was being able to learn how to fly! Just by seeing how Tien was able move about in the sky during their fight and hover above the ground while watching the earlier matches had been more than enough for Ranma to figure out how the technique worked. While he didn't use the technique during the match, Ranma was super excited to start training with it after the tournament was over! Man, he, Goku, Krillin, and even Yamcha were going to have some truly _awesome_ spars in the coming months, after he taught his friends the trick behind it as well!

Despite Ranma being so distracted by his thoughts as he showered, he still normally would've noticed when the door to the restroom was opened. It was one of the many skills he'd learned and honed during his time in this world, being able to sense the presence of others around him, especially if those people had ill intentions towards him and others nearby. It was a skill that Goku was still somewhat struggling to learn since it didn't really have a direct physical aspect he could exercise, being an entirely mental practice.

But even if he'd not been distracted, Ranma _still_ wouldn't have noticed the intruder's presence as he stepped out of the shower and started dressing in a fresh gi. The guy was invisible to the normal human eye and with absolutely no ki presence at all. So, Ranma was caught completely unawares and collapsed in an unconscious heap on the floor thanks to a strong chop to the back of his neck. A burly form dressed in a filthy off-white gi appeared momentarily, picking up the unconscious teenager and his bag of supplies before once again vanishing from sight.

* * *

Groaning somewhat, Ranma opened his eyes as his consciousness started slowly returning to him. Even in that bleary state, he could quickly tell that he was lying on his back naked with a cold slab of stone beneath him. Trying to sit up, he frowned in annoyed anger as he felt large and heavy metal shackles around his wrists and ankles, chains pulled tight to keep him relatively secure even as he moved his limbs experimentally. Looking towards his arm, he stared somewhat uncomprehendingly at the chain shackling him, which was also anchored strongly into the stonewall to the side.

Blinking again hard, Ranma shook his head as his mind finally awoke and he truly took in the situation he was. ' _Someone's_ _ **kidnapped**_ _me? Seriously? Oh, whoever it is, is in for a_ _ **world of hurt**_ _!_ ' But as he began flexing his body more, Ranma noticed something else. Pinpricks, hundreds of them, digging into his abdomen, legs, and arms. Looking down at his chest, Ranma saw hundreds of thin needles sticking out of his skin in upright positions that he vaguely recognized as being commonly used in shiatsu therapies. "What the fuck is this?!"

"Oh? You're finally awake, huh, boy?" said a familiar voice. A voice that Ranma had _hoped_ and _prayed_ and almost _wished upon Shenron_ that he'd _**never**_ have to hear again! "Good, that'll make this part even easier."

Tilting his head back, Ranma spotted the large and familiar form of his father standing above him. The man's appearance hadn't changed in the least, aside from maybe gaining a few more layers of fat on his belly and his face being drawn into a focused look of stern disapproval. And he seemed to be holding something in his heads, something that glittered in the slight light of the cavern they were in, but Ranma couldn't see it thanks to his position and Genma holding it just out of his eyesight.

"Pops?!" Ranma cried out in alarm. He knew one thing for absolute certainty. If his father was here and given how he'd obviously managed to kidnap him, then that could only mean _one_ thing.

"Time to wake up from this _fantasy_ , boy!" Genma stated sternly. Before Ranma could rebuke or react in any way, the portly man was pushing some kind of helmet or headdress or something of that nature onto Ranma's head. Ranma remembered _**screaming**_ out in fury at his father as he felt a foreign and malevolent presence bulldoze its way into his mind. Then everything went white, turning into a blinding golden flash, and finally fading into darkness.

* * *

 **June 9, 1987**

When he awoke again, Ranma found himself lying on a ratty mattress in a house that was clearly abandoned and falling apart. He blinked innocently as he looked around the bedroom he was in. After a moment, he slowly and weakly sat up and pushed the smelly blankets off him. But in doing so, he winced in pain as his body started throbbing. Pulling open his white gi and looking down as he gently cradled his aching abdomen, Ranma spotted a whole slew of bruises, scrapes, and cuts littering his chest and limbs. ' _What happened? How did I end up like this? Did I get beat up in a fight again? The last thing I remember doing was—_ "

A loud purr – flash of short but deadly claws – waves of hungry glowing eyes staring out at him –

"AAHHHH!" he screamed in terror as the fresh memory resurfaced.

"Boy?!" the concerned voice of his father called out. The bedroom door slammed open as the fat man charged in, looking quite concerned but also somewhat on guard as he turned and approached his son. "What is it?! What's happened?!"

"Pops!" Ranma cried, launching himself at Genma in a burst of speed that caught both of them by surprise. Still, Genma was able to catch his son and himself easily enough. "Don't throw me in the pit again! PLEASE!"

"Pit?" Genma muttered quietly to himself as he tried to comfort his clearly terrified son. After a few moments of this, he grasped the boy's shoulders and pushed him away as he knelt down to look his son in the eye. "What's the last thing you remember, son?"

"C-C-C-Furry _demons_!" Ranma said, shivering wildly as a look of pure terror crossed his face.

"Hmm…That's problematic," Genma murmured, looking thoughtful for a moment before nodding. "Well, clearly you've failed to learn the Nekoken… Oh, _fine_ , I won't force you into the pit anymore." Ranma quite visibly and blatantly relaxed after his father said that, but still was shivering from lingering fear. Well, the best way to overcome a minor fear like that was to simply forget about it! " _But_ we must to make up for this _failure_ of yours, boy!" That statement earned Genma the first of _many_ angry glares to come. "I suppose it's nothing that a bit of light training won't fix. Come on, boy! I think there's a dojo nearby we can destroy for some fun! How's that sound?"

A weak, tentative smile peeked out of Ranma's shivering form as he looked up at his father, hopeful that he was really being honest this time. "S-S-Sounds…fun, pops."

* * *

 **November 15, 1990**

Eyes snapping open, Ranma shot bolt upright from the bed he was lying on. " _ **HE'S**_ _ **DEEEAAAAD**_ _ **!**_ "

His loud cry and sudden movement caused the two girls seated at a small table nearby to jolt in surprise. After Ranma had collapsed, they'd decided to change him back into a male, in an effort to try and help him 'feel normal again', and then they laid him down on the bed for rest. For the next five minutes, they finally got properly introduced to one another, having a rather tense and clipped conversation about their histories and intentions with the boy. To say that they were upset at getting their suspicions of having another rival be confirmed would've been an understatement.

The only things keeping them from breaking out into a savage catfight with one another on the spot was the knowledge that their shared love interest clearly needed his rest to recover and Cologne's presence in the next room over. The Elder had made it quite clear that, unlike those at the Tendo household, she would not abide any roughhousing or property damage in her home. If they disregarded this warning, there would be _punishment_ coming. And seeing how badly Shampoo flinched and shivered at that warning, Ukyo had wisely abided it.

"Airen/Ranchan?!" the girls cried out, shooting to their feet and moving over towards him. Normally, they'd have both tried to embrace him, try to calm him down. But the presence of the other and the fact that Ranma's slightly wild and furious glare was turned upon them drew them up short.

"What's wrong, Ranchan?" Ukyo asked.

"Who Shampoo need kill?" Shampoo partially asked and offered, anything to ease her beloved's fury.

After several long seconds of staring at them uncomprehendingly, clearly still somewhat lost in his memories, Ranma blinked before shaking his head. Rubbing his head slightly, he looked back at them with a much softer gaze. "Sorry. Didn't mean to frighten you. I just…I _remember_ now."

"And what is it that you remember, Son-in-Law?" Cologne asked, standing upon the table the girls had just vacated, also gazing at Ranma.

Scowling angrily as he stood up from the bed, stretching his arms and flexing his fists, he angrily said, "That no-good, rotten, son of a bitch _robbed_ me of _four years of my life!_ " Looking out the open window towards where he could now sense Genma's presence, he bit out, "I think I'm gonna make myself a panda throw-rug in a few minutes!"

"Four years?!" all of the girls repeated in varying levels of surprise.

"Really? Four _years_ , Ranchan?" Ukyo asked, eyes wide as she tried to comprehend what her fiancée was suggesting.

"That long time!" Shampoo agreed, nodding in acknowledge of Ukyo's point.

"Indeed," Cologne said, looking every bit as surprised as the girls. "Are you _sure_ , Ranma? Four years. That seems a tad _extreme_ , even for _Genma_."

An angry growl emitted from Ranma's throat at the mention of Genma's name. Despite how frightening it was to see him so clearly angry, Ukyo and Shampoo couldn't stop themselves from shivering for an entirely different reason. Ranma had always been a very expressive person. And seeing him glaring off into the distance with such a concentrated and driven look on his face… Yeah, it was doing interesting things to the girls right now.

Moving over to the window, Ranma paused only long enough to say, "I need to gather my thoughts." Then he shot out of the window and up into the skies above.

Rushing over the window, Shampoo and Ukyo both stared out for a moment, watching as he vanished up into the air for a moment. Frowning, Shampoo muttered quietly, "Where Airen come down?" It was hard to tell just where his trajectory would take him. Logically speaking, despite jumping out of the window at a near vertical angle, he should've still had an arc to his movement. But he'd moved so fast and went so high that she couldn't trace or predict just where he'd land before he vanished from sight.

"I don't think he's coming down for a while," Cologne stated, a note of clear surprise in her voice as she stared unseeingly up at the ceiling.

"What do you mean by that?" Ukyo said, asking the very question Shampoo was wondering, as they moved away from the window.

"I mean," Cologne said, speaking slowly so as to not be misunderstood. "The boy has taught himself to fly." As Ukyo and Shampoo both recoiled in surprise, Cologne continued speaking, more to herself than the girls at this point. "I haven't seen such a thing since I fought a Prince of the Musk Dynasty two hundred years ago."

"Where Airen learn that?" Shampoo asked, now voicing Ukyo's question.

"Presumably in the four years that Genma stole from him, great-granddaughter," Cologne suggested, earning nods of understanding from the girls. After a moment of silent contemplation between them, Cologne looked up and said, "It is clear that Ranma has much on his mind at the moment. So, I suggest to the both of you that you just back off for the time being. Give him space to adjust and re-center himself. He'll approach you when he's ready to face you again. In the meantime, Shampoo, you still have deliveries to make. And Miss Kuonji, I do believe that you have your own business to attend to as well."

"Yes, madam," the girls chimed, nodding as they turned to depart the guest room of the Nekohanten. Looking back up at the ceiling, Cologne focused her awareness high into the air. There, right where she'd left him, she could detect the boy hovering high above the city, his ki awhirl and reflective of the turbulent emotions he was feeling. "Things are starting to get _very_ interesting. I wonder what you're going to do next now that you seem to remember what was taken from you."

* * *

The sun was on its descent towards the horizon as the afternoon slowly bled into early evening. The sky was starting its usual transition from light blue to golden, the rays of the sun getting diluted among the thick clouds hanging silently over the massive city. It would soon change into a beautiful kaleidoscope of blues, oranges, reds, and purples before gradually sliding into night's black. But it was a sight that Ranma didn't see, both because he was safely hidden from sight in the thick cloud cover and because he was too focused inwards as he tried to make sense of his thoughts.

Now that the cage had been broken and all of his memories freed, Ranma could clearly see just how certain things that had never made sense in his life before now suddenly did. How he had somehow gained such a tremendous boost in strength and speed following the failed Nekoken training Genma had put him through and their following 'dojo busting spree'. How he seemed to have grown up so fast and why so many 'kids his age' always treated him like a preschooler in the few schools he'd attended. Why he always seemed to have a limitless pool of ki and endless endurance. How he could learn fighting styles and ki techniques so effortlessly from just seeing them used once. Why Genma had almost obsessively never let Ranma anywhere close to a bookstore, never letting him read manga or watch anime until _very_ recently.

With his legs crossed under him as though he were seated on the ground, Ranma crossed his arms as an angry grimace crossed his face and grit his teeth. "That stupid, lazyass panda! Why in the hell would he do this?! He says he wants me to be the best _martial artist_ in the world. And yet he steals away from me four years of _hard training_. Four years of _techniques_. _Four years of abilities. And four years of_ _ **experience**_ _._ _ **FOR WHAT?!**_ To get me to marry some girl I've never met before and to 'inherit' a dojo that's not mine to take?! _For what?! WHAT?!_ _ **AAAARRRGH!**_ "

At his last cry, he exerted his ki, bringing out it's full power. A fiery white aura erupted around him as he screamed out his fury. The force of his ki had very visible effects, pushing back in all directions against the clouds that had been about ready to unleash yet another downpour on him, forming a wide 500-meter sphere around him that was cloud-free and making him visible to the ground below. Not that many people could've seen him anyway, even if they did look up and wonder about the strong bubble that had seemingly spontaneously formed.

Panting slightly from the force as his immediate anger was vented and his aura died away, Ranma stretched out his body to loosen it up. "That felt _good_. It's great to be able to bring out _all of my power_ at once again!" Bringing up his fist, he flexed his fingers in contemplation, the same as he did when he'd first had his strength released that fateful night two weeks ago. "But it's also sad. I've got all of this power and strength, but no rivals worthy of it. No one to _push_ me anyway. Cologne probably could, but she's too old and not nearly as spry as Master Roshi. Happosai? Puh, yeah, right. All he cares about are his 'silky darlings' and scaring the crap out of those two _imbeciles_ he calls disciples."

Looking off into the distance as he heard yet another plane go flying by as it came down for a landing somewhere in Tokyo, Ranma felt a melancholy smile cross his face. "I wish aniki was here. At least with him, I'd have never been without a worthwhile sparring partner and someone to strive for. I wonder how Goku's been doing…?" As the thought of his brother figure crossed his mind, Ranma's eyes widened in alarmed realization. "Oh shit, _GOKU!_ Oh gods! I've been gone for _three years!_ What's been going on?! _I need to get back!_ That idiot _needs_ me! But how…?"

Mind racing as he tried to puzzle out how he could solve this mystery, Ranma tried to think of the various ways he might be able to get home. "I don't know how Genma got there, so trying to steal whatever he used, if he even still has it, is pointless. I doubt that the Amazons have anything magical that could be used for…interdimensional travel. And I wouldn't even know where to start looking anywhere else for magical means. Technology? Puh! We've barely even been able to reach the moon! How could we have anything technological I could use?!"

Letting out a long, slow sigh as he tried to calm himself down, Ranma groaned out, "I wish I still had that golden…ticket… THAT'S IT!" Turning around, Ranma jetted downwards towards where the Tendo household was nestled, still quietly speaking to himself as he winced slightly through the winds buffering his eyes. "I always kept the ticket close to me. At first in case it might somehow bring me back here, then out of habit and nostalgia. And if I know Genma at all, he'd have taken it, along with my stuff, with us when he kidnapped me! Though, he probably did try to sell it somehow."

As he drew near the Tendo house, Ranma shifted his body and angled his descent. If anyone watching saw, they'd just assume that he was coming down for a landing after taking a leap from somewhere nearby. Landing almost daintily just outside the washitsu, he bounced inside and hurried up his and Genma's room, passing by a still-somewhat simmering Akane along the way. But he paid her no mind as he jumped up the stairs, literally. Racing to the room, he found it mercifully empty of any kidnapping pandas. Moving quickly, he grabbed Genma's bag and started shuffling through it, searching all of the pockets of the bag and clothes it contained, and even along the sides and edges for any hidden compartments. This very thorough searching proved its worth when he found what he was looking for, hidden within the binding of one of the shoulder straps.

"The ticket!" he muttered happily, smiling widely down at the object. "Thank you, Kami and Shenron, for this one small gift!"

Not wasting any more time, he quickly stuffed the ticket into his right sock. Pockets were too obvious after all. Once done, he turned and started gathering his own things, which wasn't much thankfully. Given his and Genma's 'ten year' road trip, Ranma had never had very many items to call his own. Just a simple bedroll, a worn-out pillow, a few extra pairs of socks, undies, clothes, and training gis, as well as the occasional camping equipment which he shared the burden of carrying with Genma. And since he kept most of that in his backpack, all he needed to do was stuff his pillow inside it, roll up and tied down his bedroll, and he was pretty much done.

But as he was heading for the door, a slight glint of light on glass caught his eye. Stopping, he turned and stared at the small collection of photos that he'd placed on the dresser during his time here. One of them featured him as his female self while dressed as a waitress during his early training in the Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken. Ranma-chan was walking alongside Shampoo, both of them carrying trays of food out of the kitchen for the waiting customers while Cologne could be seen peeking out from around the kitchen door behind them, no doubt making sure that they weren't about to cause problems for the customers. The next picture was a bit more embarrassing for his masculine pride as it featured him cowering before the combined furies of Akane and Ukyo, with Kuno visibly preening in the background apparently believing the two beauties were 'defending his honor' or something else equally ridiculous.

Gathering up these two pictures and stuffing them into his backpack as well, Ranma realized something. ' _I_ _ **can't**_ _just disappear on them like I did on Goku, Bulma, and the others. Akane, Ukyo, and Shampoo all at least_ _ **deserve**_ _a goodbye. It's the honorable and_ _ **decent**_ _thing to do_.' Despite making his choice, he couldn't stop the reflexive sigh of resignation from escaping him. ' _This is just_ _ **begging**_ _for trouble. I know it! But…_ '

Shouldering his backpack, he started making his way more sedately down the stairs. "…Heh, I guess despite being golden, the ticket had no market value to be sold at or traded for. And he didn't know what it really was, so he couldn't bargain any other potential suckers into taking it. But still, why did he keep it…? Hm… Oh well, the guy's an idiot. Who knows what his reasoning was for keeping it? Or maybe he forgot about it after he hid it away from me?"

"What are you _talking_ about?" Akane asked from where she'd been walking into the washitsu. She was looking at him angrily and with an accusing look in her eyes, almost expectantly. "And why are you _back here_ already?! Not here to _beat up_ my family again, are you, you big _brute_?!"

Blinking, Ranma just stared at her for a long moment. Why was she staring at him like that again? He couldn't quite remember. Despite his newfound mental clarity, his memories of the past few days were cloudy at best. So, that being the case, it took him a few moments to piece together just why she was angry at him this time. But when the memory fragments of less than hour ago finally came to him, his eyes widened in surprised horror, both at his own behavior and her _very_ hurtful comments.

Taking a long, slow breath before he lashed out at her on reflex, whether verbally or physically, he closed his eyes in a blatant attempt to calm himself down. Akane seemed to understand what he was doing and why, so she held her tongue as she waited for his response. Opening his eyes, Ranma stared down at her with a look of clear contemplation. It was _sooo_ tempting to just tell her off and lash out at her for her immaturity and anger issues. But it was even more tempting to just turn and walk away forever. ' _Genma wants me to marry this spoiled little brat? No way!_ ' But despite how _tempting_ those actions were, neither of them were _honorable_.

Instead of doing either, he tentatively said, "Listen, Akane." Raising his gaze to look her in the eyes, he continued with, "There's something very important that I need to tell you. Can you meet me at the Shakujii Hikawa Shrine at nine tonight?"

"Shakujii Hikawa(1)?" Akane repeated in surprise. Her anger evaporated so quickly in her confusion that one could be forgiven if they thought she hadn't been a couple steps away from being absolutely furious just a few seconds ago. "R-Really, Ranma? But that place is dedicated to _cats_!"

"Uh…? Huh," Ranma blinked in surprise. Then, much to Akane's _immense_ surprise, he just shrugged nonchalantly. "Meet me there anyway. Please? It's important."

Before Akane could question him further, both about what he wanted to speak about and how it seemed that he's somehow spontaneously overcome his cat-phobia, Ranma had already speed-walked to the front door and disappeared before she could properly organize her thoughts. "What was that about?"

"You tell me, imouto," Nabiki said as she walked around the corner of the hallway she'd been hiding behind, listening in on their conversation.

"Ane!" Akane snapped, annoyed at her older sister's intrusion. But Nabiki ignored her sister's outcry as she stared contemplatively towards where Ranma had vanished.

He was up to something.

These past few weeks had been somewhat usual for her because of Ranma's erratic behavior. Although she'd tried to continue her schemes and swindling as usual, these last few days she'd held off doing that with her primary piggybank. Ranma's constant lashing out, out of proportional counterattacks, and 'crazy flashes' had caused her self-preservation instincts to kick in and she kept away from him. But now, for the first time in days, she'd witnessed him finally starting to act 'normal' again. And what did she see in those brief moments she spotted him? Packing up his things, talking to Akane in a tone that most others would call civil (which she personally called 'unnatural'), and now him rushing outside while still carrying his pack?

Yeah, something was about to go down. But what…?

* * *

It was 9 o'clock and Akane found her approaching the shrine as requested. By this time of day, most of the tourists and visitors would've long since gone home, leaving the shrine with a somewhat desolate and abandoned feel to it. If she were entirely truthful, the shrine was kind of giving her the creeps because it seemed like the perfect place for ghosts to haunt. But Akane steeled her nerves and entered the premises.

"Ranma?" she called out, looking around for the boy.

"Akane?" a voice answered back, but not that of the boy she was seeking.

Whirling around into an automatic defensive stance, Akane's guard was instantly up as she spotted not just Ukyo but also that purple-haired gaijin slut enter the shrine's gate behind her. Shampoo gave Akane an equally dark look but said nothing.

"What are you two doing here?!" Akane spat out angrily.

"Ranchan asked me to come here," Ukyo stated easily. "He said that he had something important to tell me. He wouldn't say what though."

"Airen say same to Shampoo," Shampoo agreed. "Not say he invite others though."

"That's because I knew you'd just cause a fight if I did," Ranma's voice called from further in, emitting from the shrine building itself. Walking around the corner holding a single candle, he beckoned them inside invitingly, "But now that you're all here, come on in! I want to get this done with as quickly as possible."

Although shooting uncertain and cautious looks towards and amongst each other, the three girls complied with his request. Once they were inside the shrine proper, Ranma took a seat on the floor in the center and set the candle down before him as he gestured silently for them to do the same in front of him. As she was doing this, Akane's mind was racing as she tried to come up with possibilities of what Ranma was up to. ' _Given that he's invited these two_ _ **bimbos**_ _along, maybe Ranma's_ _ **finally**_ _decided to end this farce of a harem of his and make his choice?_ ' Though she'd forever deny it, even to herself, Akane's heart did start beating a bit faster in anticipation and hope. And she wasn't the only one having such thoughts going through her mind at this moment either. Although, given the events they'd been present for earlier in the day, Shampoo and Ukyo's hopes were much more tempered than they would've otherwise been.

Opening his mouth to start speaking, Ranma paused before he could get his first word out, glancing sharply off to the side. With an annoyed glare, he looked back at the confused and impatient girls. "Excuse me for a moment." He vanished from his spot in a blur of speed too fast for any of them to follow. After a few tense seconds of silence, a loud cry of surprise, followed by the familiar smack of flesh on flesh, could be heard through the ceiling. As all three girls looked upwards, they faintly heard Ranma call out, "And don't come back!"

"What was that?" Ukyo wondered quietly.

"Probably Sasuke again," Akane said, annoyed certainty in her voice.

"Little rodent-man for crazy stick-boy?" Shampoo asked curiously, still not quite familiar with all of the local fighters and people.

"Yes," both Japanese girls stated amicably.

"Sorry about that," Ranma said as he reappeared where he had been. "Sasuke was poking his nose around again."

"No problem, Ranchan," Ukyo said easily. "Now, what's this about?"

"I finally remembered everything that's happened to me growing up," Ranma said simply. "You see, back when I was nine and just hours after I'd undergone the Nekoken training, I got separated from Genma. And I didn't see him again for more than four years' time. When he finally found me, somehow, he attacked me while I was weak and exhausted from a martial arts tournament I'd been in. Catching me by surprise, he knocked me out and ran off with me. I woke briefly sometime later to see him in the midst of performing some kind of shiatsu sealing technique on me and him placing something on my head. I'm guessing it was magical because it locked away my memories of those four years while I was away from him. That was three years ago. It was only this afternoon, after Shampoo used Formula 119 on me, that my memories have finally returned."

"What are you saying, Ranma?" Akane asked, bewilderment etched on her face.

"I'm saying that when Genma found me again after four years, he decided that it was better for me to have the compliant mind of a freshly-traumatized 9-year-old in the body of a 13-year-old warrior," Ranma said bluntly. "Now that my memory's restored, so many things about my past and abilities that never quite made sense to me finally do. Such as how I was able to get so much stronger so quickly after my Nekoken 'training' and why I'm so good at using and learning ki techniques. It's all thanks to my training under the martial arts master who took me in during those four years, and my closest friend who was also my best sparring partner."

"What were their names?" Ukyo asked, quite interested, as were the other girls.

"Master Muten Roshi and Son Goku," Ranma said bluntly, closing his eyes and awaiting the apocalypse that he knew was coming. Thanks to that, he didn't see Ukyo's eyes widen slightly at hearing the same name he'd slurred out earlier that day.

"Roshi? Goku?" came the disbelieving voice of Akane almost immediately. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously," Ranma stated, unmoved, knowing it was just seconds' away.

"As in ' _Dragon Ball_ 's Master Roshi and Son Goku?" Akane asked, her face starting to contort in growing anger. _Clearly_ , this was some kind of practical joke that Ranma was feeding her. Probably to get a few laughs at her expense! That's probably why he had his eyes closed! So that she couldn't see the mirth dancing within them!

"Yes," Ranma repeated just as seriously. "It's due to what happened to me after my Nekoken training that I met and trained with those two."

"You _seriously_ expect me to believe that you were trained by a _fictional character_ from some _stupid_ manga?!" Akane bit out angrily, just barely keeping herself in check. It wasn't because she was trying to be considerate or to give him the benefit of the doubt. It was because she still wanted to know the full story behind this farce. How was he going to justify such a ludicrous story as that?! "Fine then, tell me how!"

"It happened after the third time Genma threw me into the pit with hungry cats," Ranma began calmly. "At least, I _think_ it was that time when I actually 'learned' the style. I don't know for sure. I only have vague flashes of him throwing me into it, getting attacked, and then of me busting out and attacking him. Then, next thing I know, I'm waking up in the bed of some old lady as she was nursing me back to health. She apparently found me collapsed on the side of the street and took pity on me. Since I didn't know where I was or where Genma was, I decided to stay with her for the time being, trying to repay my debt to her for helping me."

"How you do that?" Shampoo asked, tilting her head slightly as she and Ukyo became increasingly more engrossed in her beloved's lost history.

"Well, I was only 9 at the time and only really knew anything about martial arts, so I couldn't do much," Ranma admitted, looking rather embarrassed about that fact, scratching the back of his head. "Still, the old lady was nice about it. She brought me to a bookstore she owned and ran and 'put me to work'. But I was a kid, and quickly lost interest. I started reading the manga and watching the anime that were available, including Dragon Ball."

"And how did you get 'inside' the manga then?" Akane demanded, glaring at him accusingly.

Ranma paused to give her a long look of…disappointment, perhaps? She wasn't sure, it was hard to tell in the darkness, even with the candle's light. "That night, while helping her clean out her attic for some old clothes of her kids for me to wear, the old lady came across something that she'd inherited from her father. Apparently, he was an American immigrant. But anyway, what she found was a golden ticket. She brought it down and gave it to me saying that she was far too old to use it anymore, so I could have it. That the ticket, when held near a movie that was playing, would take the person holding it into the movie. She said that she hoped I would have as many fun adventures growing up as she did."

"And I take it that that's how you got met Goku, right?" Ukyo asked, eyebrows raised in surprise. "She brought you back to the bookstore and you got pulled into Dragon Ball, which you had been watching at the time."

"More or less, yes," Ranma said, nodding at his friend with a slight smile.

" _Really_ , Ranma?" Akane demanded, derision clear in her voice, earning annoyed looks from Shampoo and Ukyo. "You _expect me to believe_ that you lived _fours years_ of your life in _**Dragon Ball**_?! That is _**RIDICULOUS**_ , even for you!"

Without saying a word, Ranma started rising into the air despite remaining in a seated position. At first, Akane didn't notice what he was doing, too focused on glaring angrily at his face. But when he started reaching over a meter in the air, with clearly no wires being used to aid him in this feat, Akane's anger cooled slightly as shock set in. Ukyo and Shampoo merely stared up at him with interest, much less surprised than Akane thanks to having already somewhat seen him fly earlier.

From his new position above them, Ranma asked, "Have you ever known me to lie, Akane?"

For a moment, Akane floundered for an answer, still too surprised to think quite as clearly. After regaining her senses, she shot another hot glare up at him as her pride reared its ugly head, "You lied about your gender."

"You never asked," Ranma pointed out.

"You lied about all of your fiancées," she tried again.

"I didn't know about them!" he shot back somewhat angrily at the accusation.

"You lied about taking me seriously!" Now it was more her temper that was speaking than she herself was.

"I've taken you as seriously as I can _without_ _hurting you!_ " he replied reflexively. That statement caused him to wince as soon as he realized how she'd likely interpret it, again.

"And _that's_ how I know you're _**lying**_ to me!" Akane declared with an angrily triumphant gleam in her eye as she stood up. " _Because_ _I_ _ **know**_ _how_ _ **tough**_ _ **I**_ _ **am**_ _!_ " She stormed out of the shrine and back towards her home, simmering anger at the perceived jab to her pride.

Feeling a bit vindictive, Ranma called after her with, "At least I don't try to _justify_ my _flaws!_ " The only apparent reaction that statement earned from the girl was a pause in her movement before she visibly recollected herself and carried on.

Ranma dropped quietly back to the floor as he and the remaining two girls shot looks of annoyance and anger towards Akane's departing back for a few moments. But those looks soon refocused onto Ranma as he crossed his arms and awaited their reactions as well.

"Ranchan," Ukyo said slowly, a look of dawning realization on her face. "The reason you're telling us all of this…You're going _back_ , aren't you?"

Shampoo shot Ukyo a surprised look before turning wide and almost begging eyes onto Ranma. "Airen?!"

"Yes, that's true," Ranma admitted unrepentantly. "I _**loved**_ it there! I had _real_ friends and a _family_ there! I had a _purpose_ I could shamelessly dedicate my skills towards! Protecting defenseless people, fighting the bad guys, going on crazy adventures, meeting new and _interesting_ people, competing in tournaments that actually _pushed me_ to do my best!" A dreamy look of nostalgia crossed his face as memories rose to the surface unrestrained. It was a look that caused both Shampoo and Ukyo to smile at in response, happy to see him truly happy for once. "It was _paradise_ for me."

But then that happiness faded from his face as he turned a serious gaze down onto them. "But here? I have to put with a controlling father who preaches about family honor but is a shameless thief and hypocrite, an overly emotional and hyper-protective landlord who'll consistently side with either his best friend or his equally emotional daughter with a temper problem. I have a heartless mercenary trying to milk me out of every single yen I have to my name and who frequently makes my life miserable just for her own amusement. I have a family of lunatics obsessed with marrying or killing me depending on what gender I am. I have a self-obsessed masochist with an inferiority complex for a rival who blames all of his problems on me. And you two, constantly trying to force me to dedicate my life to you without even trying to get to know the real me. You just want some kind of 'super husband' that you've created in your minds to romance and marry you. You don't want the _real me_. You don't even _know_ the real me anymore either."

Both girls looked equally hurt at his last couple of statements. They wanted to try and deny what he said, but his closing line brought them up short as they realized he was correct. With his new memories, it was clear that his personality had changed slightly as a result. They really _didn't_ know this Ranma at all!

" _Shampoo no care!_ " Shampoo cried out, her eyes suspiciously wet as her arms started trembling from the effort it was taking her to not throw herself into his arms. "Shampoo know who Airen _really_ is! He _warrior!_ Shampoo be happy meet _real_ _Ranma_ really!"

"Yeah, what she said, Ranchan!" Ukyo said hurriedly. "I don't care if I haven't met the 'real you' yet since we reunited! You're _still_ my _best friend!_ I don't want you face the world _on your own! You're_ _ **NOT**_ _alone anymore, Ranchan!_ " Seeing his somewhat surprised expression at their shared statements, Ukyo pressed on by saying, "I don't _care_ what you do or say! I'm _coming with you_ , wherever you go! And if it happens to take us to _Dragon Ball_ , oh well! You're _**NOT**_ _leaving me_ _ **behind**_ _ **AGAIN**_ _!_ "

"And Shampoo also huntress!" the Amazon stated, looking knowingly at her beloved. "Even if left behind, Shampoo _follow!_ Somehow!"

Glancing between the two girls, Ranma had a look of uncertainty on his face. Then he closed his eyes and let loose a long sigh. After a moment, he looked up again and gave them both a very serious stare. "Fine. If you want to come with me, I won't stop you. But you need to understand something _right now!_ _I – am – NOT – coming – back!_ Do you understand what that means?" It took a brief moment, but soon both girls had shared looks of surprised realization and even slight fear. "Ukyo, you'd _never_ be able to settle things with your old man. And, Shampoo, you will _never_ see your village again. You need to get those things sorted out _before_ you leave, and _quickly!_ I'm _**not**_ staying for much longer. If I do, _Genma_ will realize I've got my way home and will _no doubt_ try to stop me." As he said that last part, he'd reached into his sock and pulled out the golden ticket, waving it nonchalantly in front of the girls. Even in the faint candlelight, the ticket seemed to shine and glow with a supernatural aura, the magic it contained all-too-clearly visible.

Ukyo and Shampoo both shared a look reflexively, trying to see if their primary rival would _truly_ be willing to potentially give up _everything_ to follow after Ranma. Then their looks hardened into a fierce determination and they looked back at Ranma, nodding in acknowledgement. "We understand, Ranchan."

Seeing their determination, Ranma couldn't help sighing again. This time, it wasn't out of exasperation, annoyance, or a need to calm down. Strangely, he had sighed out of…relief. It would've really hurt him emotionally to have been forced to leave them behind, he was now realizing. Unlike Akane, who had already made her stance about him and his story abundantly clear, as well as their fast-fading friendly relationship these days. Yes, he'd be sad about not bringing Akane along with him, but he also realized that she probably had too many connections to this world to want or be able to just leave it.

"Very well," he said simply, nodding to them. "Meet me back here tomorrow, let's say… at noon? And we'll get started on our journey."

Both girls nodded decisively as all three of them stood up to depart. Ukyo and Shampoo watched in slight exasperation and somewhat mounting jealousy as Ranma lifted off into the air and flew off to places unknown. But then they quickly turned and hurried home. They had a _lot_ of stuff to do and _not_ a lot of time to do it in!

* * *

Akane's return to the dojo was heralded by the slight slamming of the door, angry stomping feet on the floor, and mutters to herself as she ranted about stupid perverts telling lies. But this was nothing new these days, Akane always being angry. So, while the others of the household heard and acknowledged her return, they didn't put much stock on her grumblings right away. Nabiki had retreated up into her room for her usual light exercises to maintain her sexy figure. Kasumi was finishing the dishes and cleaning up after dinner in the kitchen. Happosai was out on one of his usual panty raids. And the fathers were busy playing shogi in the washitsu, only listening in on Akane's mumblings with half an ear for any of the usual keywords that would spark their attention.

"Stupid perverted freak," Akane was grumbling as she kicked off her shoes in the genkan. "Does he think I'm some kind of gullible idiot like those two floozies?"

"Welcome back, Akane," Kasumi greeted her sister she stepped out of the kitchen, wiping the last moisture off her hands on her apron. Seeing Akane in an especially angry mood, Kasumi's motherly concern was sparked, "What's wrong, Akane? Did Ranma-san do something again?"

"That idiot thinks I'm dumb enough to believe he lived in Dragon Ball for four years!" Akane ranted loudly in reply, more venting her frustrations than speaking to her sister. She quickly got lost in her rants as her anger bubbled over. As such, she failed to noticed how she'd attracted the fathers' attentions, or how Genma had suddenly froze in place. "So, what if he can fly now?! He could've learned that anywhere! He doesn't need to be spreading blatant lies about himself now! And why'd he have to invite those two sluts along when he told me?! GAH! I hate that fre—!"

THWMP! KRSSHHH! The sound of the shogi table going flying and the numerous playing pieces scattering along the floor managed to pull Akane out of her rant as she and Kasumi looked towards the noise. They were just in time to see the panicked visage of Genma speeding up the stairs with a surprised and disgruntled Soun following after him out of curiosity. Glancing at one another, both sisters hurried after the fathers. Hearing the noise, Nabiki poked her head of her room and saw her family and Genma racing over to the Saotome's room, and she joined them out of curiosity as well.

Genma paid none of them any mind as he shot into his room and grabbed his bag, absentmindedly noting worryingly that his ungrateful son's things were missing. Digging through the bindings of his bag, he let out a startled cry at what he _didn't_ find there. "IT'S GONE! _DAMMIT!_ THE TICKET'S _GONE!_ "

"What ticket, Genma?" Soun asked, moving up to his friend while also noting that the room was emptier than it had been earlier. Refocusing his attention on his friend, he asked, "What's wrong? What's going on?"

"The ticket!" Genma repeated, making no more sense than earlier as he dropped his pack and spun around to face his friend. "He's going back!"

"Back? Back where?" Now Soun was _really_ starting to get worried. He'd only his friend this panicked very rarely, and none of those times had been good memories for either of them. "Where's he going?"

"Back to that _other_ world!" Genma said, nearly yelling as he spun around again and rushed for the ever-open window. "He's going back to that _ridiculous fantasy_ of his! I don't have _time_ to explain! _I need to stop him!_ " As he jumped out of the window, he quite literally vanished from sight as he pulled the Umisenken cloak around his form and raced off.

"Genma! Wait for me!" Soun cried as he too leapt out of the window in pursuit of his friend.

"So, Ranma's leaving?" Nabiki asked calmly.

Well, she was calm on the _outside_ , but inside she was _very_ angry. If Ranma left, she'd lose her easiest target and most favorite piggybank. Putting him down, setting him up for disaster, and blackmailing him always gave her such a sadistic joy because she could read him so easily. If she lost that resource he provided her… ' _Well, we can't have **that**_.'

Turning and leaving, she headed for phone because she had a lot of calls to make.

"Wait a minute," Akane said slowly, her eyes wide in growing shock as the full implications of Mr. Saotome's actions finally started hitting her. "Ranma was telling the _truth_?"

Kasumi brought her dainty hand up to her mouth in surprise. "Oh my."

* * *

( **Author's Note** ) For those of you who were unable to guess just what Genma was doing to Ranma during that brief time he awoke before his memories were suppressed, Genma was using pressure point needles to seal up half of Ranma's strength. Not at all unlike what Happosai did to Ranma with the Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion. As for him suppressing Ranma's memories, think of the headdress that he put on Ranma's head as a one-time-use magical McGuffin. After all, we _**all**_ know that if Genma had access to such a thing in canon, he'd be using and abusing it left, right, and center for _all manner_ of nefarious and petty reasons. Though, _chiefly_ , he'd obviously try to use it to control Ranma even more than he already tries to.

As for the inconsistency with Ranma's power levels, here's my reasoning behind it. In official DB sources that I could find, Goku and King Piccolo were both listed to be around the 250 mark when Ranma disappeared, with no mention of Goku and/or Ma Junior's levels in the 23rd WMAT, but both of them being around 400 in the Raditz fight. So, going off that logic, I'm guessing that both of them were about 250-300 in the WMAT. Piccolo Jr. would've be concerned with increasing his power (since I'm guessing he started out fairly low level when he first hatched) and Goku seemed to be more focused on honing his ki abilities and awareness than increasing his power. Granted, honing his skills does transfer into boosting his power by focusing it better, so I guess there's that argument too.

Now, Ranma in the early days would've always been the weaker between him and Goku (even if it was by 5 points). But on the other hand, he was always the faster, more evasive, and had a better trained actual fighting style, whereas Goku kinda free-styled it and relied on brute force. Ranma was a lot like Vegeta, training far harder than Goku to keep up with him but never quite surpassing him. So, if Goku was listed to be 180 at the start of the King Piccolo arc, that would mean that Ranma was about 160. So, when Genma caught him and sealed half his strength away, he'd have been reduced to 80. Now, the question becomes: how did Ranma go from being 160 to 220? Wouldn't his abilities and strength have atrophied from disuse and working at such a comparatively low level for such a long period of time?

My belief is that, as a human, Ranma is a lot more intuitive in his ki abilities than Goku. For example, where the Saiyans had to be 'taught' how to control their ki like raising and lowering it and ki sensory, Ranma figured all of that out on his own before and after he was sealed. It's how he's able to learn techniques so quickly after seeing them done just once.

Now, how does that play into him increasing his power? Well, the simple answer is that while he couldn't access his full power _all at once_ anymore, he could still draw on it as a type of reserve or emergency backup generator. It's why he's got such fantastic endurance in Ranma-canon. Sure, he's limited to the amount of ki he could access at any given point, but he's got a deep well to draw on that never quite runs out. Don't forget just how many fights he's been involved in, both prior and after the Tendo agreement. And there's the fact that he learned numerous ki techniques and consistently used it to augment his strength and speed means that he was _constantly_ exercising his ki, expanding his power reserve despite not being able to access it entirely. With the Moxibustion tearing apart the dam that Genma had built up around him, Ranma's increased use of ki techniques and abilities over the years, his growing control and awareness after the sealing, added onto all of his training in that prior to the sealing... Yeah, that's source for Ranma's power boosts in these past couple of chapters, even this one. Not much of one this time, but it doesn't have to be since he's now able to truly and _fully_ control it.

(1) The Shakujii Hikawa is a real-life shrine in Nerima. It also has a lot of lion sculptures in and around it. Whether it's dedicated to cats, I don't know and rather doubt. But I figured it was a close enough approximation to the 'Cat Temple' that's mentioned in canon to be a suitable stand-in.

 **Translations** :  
Aniki = Big Brother  
Otouto = Little Brother  
Ane/Neesan/Aneki = Elder Sister  
Imouto = Little Sister

 **Power Levels** :

Tien Shinhan ( **age 20** ): 180  
Goku ( **age 15** ): 180  
Krillin ( **age 15** ): 140

Cologne ( **age…unknown** ): 380  
Happosai ( **age…unknown** ): 330  
Ranma ( **age 13** ): 160 (22nd WMAT), ( **age 16** ): 220 (strength unsealed), 250 (memory restored)  
Genma ( **age 41** ): 110  
Ryoga ( **age 16** ): 95  
Soun ( **age 41** ): 90  
Shampoo ( **age 16** ): 90  
Ukyo ( **age 16** ): 85  
Mousse ( **age 16** ): 60  
Akane ( **age 16** ): 60  
Kodachi Kuno ( **age 16** ): 55  
Tatewaki Kuno ( **age 17** ): 40  
Kasumi ( **age 19** ): 5  
Nabiki ( **age 17** ): 5


	4. Stampede!

**.**

 **Son Ranma  
** By: Tellemicus Sundance  
Co-Authored by: Fiori75  
 _#04: Stampede!_

 **November 16, 1990**

Ranma had had a very long night. Unwilling to waste time, Ranma had made his way to the closest bookstore he could find, which turned out to be the local library. Inside, he found what he was seeking, numerous books featuring the Dragon Ball manga and he set to work reading up on it as best he could. Well, that's partially misleading since he didn't do any actual _in-depth_ reading, just skimming over most of the parts. The only parts of the story that he paid any attention to were the Piccolo Daimao Saga, since that was clearly the immediate storyline that he'd missed out on due to his kidnapping. "I wonder how things would've gone had _I_ been there too? Stupid panda!"

The next part to grab his attention was of course the arrival of Goku's long-lost brother from the stars, Raditz the Saiyan Warrior. The revelation that his aniki had in fact been an alien from a warrior race all along explained so many odd things about Goku! Ranma truly was smacking his head in annoyance at himself when he read that part. Given all of the anthropomorphic animals and dinosaurs and monsters that existed in that crazy world, _how_ could he have never once considered the possibility that his aniki wasn't even human himself? The guy had a fricking monkey tail for the longest time and transformed into a massive ape in the full moon's light! It should've been obvious! _He_ was supposed to be the smart one between the two of them! Putting that minor annoyance and embarrassment to his pride aside, Ranma would have continued his 'research' but the library closed and he was forced to leave.

However, Ranma didn't return to the Tendo house. He didn't want to tempt fate like that and he doubted he'd be able to control himself if he were in close proximity to Genma any time soon. Instead, he found a small but well-hidden alcove on the roof of one of the many buildings and camped out there. His sleep wasn't easy, fraught with nightmares of him being trapped in this dimension he hated or of him managing to return back to the Dragon Ball dimension and find that he was a total stranger to them, that no one there knew him, that none of them had ever met him before. These terrible dreams and fears kept on jolting him awake at odd hours throughout the night before he finally settled down fitfully around 4am.

Despite the general lack of sleep, Ranma still woke and got up before the sun peeked over the horizon. Rather than go through the wholly inefficient morning warmup that Genma had been forcing him to use, Ranma restarted his previously stalled training in utilizing his ki to fly. Though he was a fast learner, Ranma still needed to learn the fine control necessary to navigate through a city or forest at high speed, to say nothing of using it in the midst of a fight. That type of control comes from experience. And it was experience he was all-too-willing to get! So, Ranma spent his early morning racing himself through the nearest forests he could find. The overwhelming amount of tree bark and splinters that littered his clothing, along with many broken branches and uprooted trees that followed in his wake as he departed the forest was a testimony to how well he'd performed.

It was now 9:30, the sun had been up for almost three hours now. With his morning training complete and having had a small breakfast, Ranma was feeling quite invigorated as he made his way back to the library with a small but content smile on his face. As he entered the library, Ranma had found himself momentarily interrogated by the nervous librarian.

"H-H-How long are you planning on staying th-this time, Saotome-san?" the old librarian asked, eyes flicking continuously towards the entrance.

"Not too long," Ranma said amiably. "At least until noon, but probably sooner than that though."

"Th-That long?!" the librarian squeaked in disgruntlement.

"That a problem?" Ranma asked, eyes slightly narrowed in annoyance.

"N-No!" the librarian replied, quite unconvincingly. At Ranma's continued stare and raised brow, the librarian relented, "I just don't want the library destroyed by one of those lunatics out there! This is supposed to be a quiet place for reading and learning, not a demolition site as a lot of your…acquaintances tend to cause."

"That's a bit of an unfair comparison," Ranma remarked, though he did gain a thoughtful look. After a moment, he nodded to the old man. "But I get what you mean. For what it's worth, I'll do my best to keep things…contained, if something like _that_ happens."

"…I guess that's all I can hope for," the librarian responded despondently as he waved Ranma on. "Thank you anyway."

After that little conversation, Ranma returned his earlier spot among the manga collection of the library, reading up on his family's adventures. To say that Ranma was impressed by little Gohan's immense power for his age would've been an understatement. In fact, he found himself somewhat jealous of the kid. "The kid's barely 5 or 6 and yet he's already about _five times stronger_ than I am right now, if not more!" he muttered quietly to himself. "What a kid! He's got some _serious_ potential as a warrior!" And talk about humbling!

Goku's fight against the Saiyan Prince Vegeta was perhaps the most intense fight that Ranma had ever seen before. And he couldn't put into words just how proud he was of his aniki at how he managed to wipe that cocky smirk off the bastard's face! "Man! If I was there, we could've trounced him so badly he wouldn't have had the _chance_ to make that stupid fake moon!" However, he wasn't going to fault Vegeta for using every weapon at his disposal. If there was _one thing_ he agreed with Genma about, it was that.

But what _**really**_ had Ranma seething in jealousy was when he learned about the Saiyan race's 'secret weapon', the zenkai boost, as demonstrated by Vegeta when he killed Dodoria and later Zarbon. The ability to grow stronger after every battle, after every injury sustained, after knocking on death's door and then recovering? Oh yeah, Ranma was positively _green with envy!_ Although humans did have something similar, it was far more muted than what the Saiyans apparently had. And it certainly put an entirely new twist on all of his childhood memories of every time he sparred with or fought alongside Goku! "No _wonder_ Goku was always so much stronger than me! He was _cheating_ the whole time!"

Flipping back to the last page he'd seen his aniki on, as he was training in a spaceship at 50 times normal Earth gravity, Ranma stared at his brother figure deploringly. Still rather smarting at this revelation, he couldn't help muttering out, "I wish _**I**_ was a Saiyan!" Then he blinked. His face gained a thoughtful expression as he stared off into the distance unseeingly. Then, slowly, a cheeky smile crossed his face.

Unnoticed by Ranma, he'd gained a _very_ unwelcome visitor. "What do you _think_ you're _doing,_ boy?!"

Despite jumping slightly in surprise, Ranma calmed himself down as he closed the manga and set it down on the shelf where he'd picked it out from. Turning, he threw a disdainful glare at Genma. "What it's look like, Genma? I'm trying to get home."

"Is that any way to speak to your father?!" Genma demanded, more on reflex than anything as he glared hatefully at the manga his son had been reading. But he quickly pulled himself back to the present as he shot a glare at his son instead, "And what's this nonsense about going home? _You ARE home!_ Here, _not_ that fantasy world!"

" _Home's_ where the _heart_ is," Ranma countered, quoting what he remembered hearing both Bulma and Master Roshi once say. And they were two of the smartest people he knew, in their own ways. "And you _broke my heart_ years ago! I can _never_ trust you again! Not after all of the _shit_ that you've done to me and many, _many_ other people!"

"What did you expect me to do?" Genma demanded, cocking his brow questioningly as he shot an angry and knowing look at his son. "There's _blood_ on your hands, boy!" At Ranma's surprised gaze, he elaborated by saying, "I know _all about_ what you and that _thing_ did during your so-called 'adventures'. _Massacring an entire army_ just because they were also looking for some shiny balls?! Such actions _are not_ the path of a _TRUE martial artist!_ "

"Oh?!" Ranma snapped back, now really starting to angry and forgetting to keep his voice quiet to match Genma's own elevated voice. "But _thievery, lies_ and _deception_ are? I am going back to where things were _truly_ honorable! Honorable to stand up for the weak, fight the good fight, and to have fun adventures while doing it! _And where I actually had a FAMILY!_ "

"Oh really?" Genma shot back, growing just as angry and loud with his son. Such was his anger that he did something that most others would've known to _not_ do. He reached into his gi and pulled out a familiar golden ticket, waving it slightly in front of his son who froze up instantly staring. Triumphant, believing he'd managed to put his son in his place, Genma asked, "And _how_ will you do that _without THIS?!_ "

" _Give…that…back_ ," Ranma ground out through clenched teeth with his furious eyes cold like glaciers as a faint aura started pulsing around his body.

"Or _what_ , boy?!" Genma challenged, a cocky sneer on his face as he started stowing the ticket back into his gi.

The look on Ranma's face darkened immeasurably at that provocation. Calling out loudly, Ranma shouted, "Sorry about this, Librarian-san!"

Before Genma could question what the boy was saying or fully comprehend what was happening, Ranma drew back his hands and unleashed a powerful ki blast with a cry of anger. The powerful attack slammed into Genma's gut with enough force to send the surrounding book shelves toppling away like massive dominoes, causing an enormous mess in the process, whilst blasting Genma backwards towards and through the far wall. Genma couldn't stop the cries of pain as he was punched through seven more walls before finally coming to a stop in the shattered remains of a clothing store's cash register, spilling coins and bills down upon him.

Groaning slightly as he sat up, Genma first checked his hand and sighed in relief at seeing that he still had the gold ticket in his fist. Looking up in the direction he'd been blasted from while ignoring the shrieking and panicking people around him, Genma spotted Ranma flying towards him, surrounded by a furious white aura with an equally thunderous expression on his face. ' _Okay, taunting the boy: bad idea!_ ' Just as Ranma was blazing through the last store between them, Genma's survival instincts kicked in and he leapt away from where he lay. This proved to be a good thing for him, as Ranma crashed into the same spot. The sheer impact created an even larger impact crater than what Genma had made. ' _The boy isn't playing around this time! Not good! I need to get out of here and dispose of the ticket quickly!_ '

In the time it took for Ranma to recover from his impact, Genma had already disappeared under the Umisenken again and was fleeing for the outdoors. And he might've been able to make a clean getaway too, if he hadn't taken the front door, whose bell jingled loudly as the door opened. Eyes shooting instantly towards the door, Ranma immediately knew that it was Genma.

" _GET BACK HERE, GENMA!_ " he screamed as he blasted after the fat man, now completely unmindful of the collateral damage he was inadvertently causing.

* * *

Things were tense…but surprisingly amiable between Ukyo and Shampoo as they walked slowly towards the shrine.

It wasn't the agreed upon time yet. That time was actually still several hours away. But neither girl wanted to linger any longer than they had to in their places of residence. They both felt that if they did, they might lose their nerve about following after Ranma. So, they left early and started walking, taking the long way through the streets rather than roof-hopping. That was how they had bumped into each other as they approached a major road that would bring them towards the general vicinity of the shrine. And the reason for their unusual friendliness was the dawning realization that they were about to embark on a true adventure to a far away land that they'd never been to before, with the boy they both loved and wanted to be loved by desperately. Despite the hope and mounting excitement of what was to come, both of them were consumed by thoughts and memories of their families and homes.

Shampoo had had a rather tearful farewell with her father and great-grandmother after she'd explained the situation to them. Cologne had been both saddened at the prospect of losing both her favorite descendant and student in one fell swoop, but also proud of Shampoo for her loyalty and persistence. The girl would probably be at a loss without her family for a while, but as long as she remained with her husband, Cologne was confident she'd adjust fairly well in due time. An opinion she'd shared freely with her family, which caused Shampoo to instantly tear up. Shampoo's father was just as understanding, but a good bit more emotional at losing his daughter yet again to 'a new world' and in pursuit of the same boy no less! After restraining a very distraught Mousse who'd been eavesdropping the whole time and tried to prevent Shampoo from leaving again, the two senior Amazons had proceeded to have a very emotional evening with her as she packed up all the necessities she'd need. It was like they were trying to cram in twenty to thirty years' worth into the rapidly dwindling span of time they had left together. So, it was with a very heavy heart that Shampoo had set out.

Looking over at the okonomiyaki chef, Shampoo could see that she was also suffering from loss. But upon closer inspection, the Amazon realized there was something different. The aura the Kuonji girl was exuding wasn't that of loss of family, but a bit more…disheartened, maybe? ' _Something bad must've happened_ ,' she realized.

Curious and wanting to break the ice, Shampoo quietly asked, "Settle things with family?"

"In a way," Ukyo muttered, looking no less despondent. "Otousan…disowned me."

Shampoo was still fairly new to the whole Japanese language, so there were certain keywords that she was unfamiliar with. This 'disowned' word was among them. "What mean?"

In a somewhat hollow voice, Ukyo explained, "I'm no longer a Kuonji. I was supposed to either come home as a Saotome or I don't come home at all… Otousan decided I'd… failed."

Now that is a situation that Shampoo could fully understand and easily sympathize with. She was in much the same circumstance herself at present after all. If she didn't come home with her husband, the very same one who'd defeated her in the first place, she would be banished from the tribe forever, exiled to prevent her weakness from infecting the tribe as a whole. It was a harrowing feeling, knowing that your future, honor, pride, and so much more depended on you succeeding in a quest that was proving to be increasingly more difficult as time passed. And for a young woman who knew so little of the world outside her village? That was practically paramount to a death sentence as far as she was concerned. Being tribe-less or clan-less was a terrible burden to bear on one's shoulders.

Feeling sympathy for the chef, Shampoo reached out and laid her hand gently on her shoulder. It was a silent, reassuring gesture that clearly caught Ukyo by surprise. Ukyo looked at Shampoo with wide eyes, which widened every so slightly more when she saw the understanding and genuine sincerity in the purple-haired girl's own eyes. This was treatment she wouldn't have ever expected from the girl.

Kkkrrrr- _BRRRMMMMM! SSHHRR-MMMMMMM!_

The distant explosions shattered the moment between the girls as they turned and looked towards where it originated from. In the distance, maybe ten blocks away, they could both see and hear as a series of more explosions suddenly kicked up. Large clouds of dust, debris, earth, and water erupted from the ground, traveling along a slightly curving line through the district's buildings and roads. Sirens started wailing as panicked civilians began running away from the danger, whatever it might be. Now that they'd turned their attentions that way, both girls' budding sensory awareness were able to detect the roiling presence of Ranma over in the vicinity.

"Ranchan? What's going on over there?" Ukyo asked quietly, feeling a sense of dread rise up in her.

"Let's find out," Shampoo said as she started running forward and taking the rooftops almost instantly, Ukyo following shortly after her.

Racing along the rooftops, it took them only a few moments to come upon the scene. Ranma dropping out of the sky fist-first, aiming for the spot that he'd momentarily seen Genma inhabiting seconds early. When he hit the ground, he created another crater that dotted the road, yelling out angrily, "YOU CAN'T HIDE _FOREVER_ , GENMA! I'LL FIND YOU _SOONER_ THAN LATER!" No sooner had he finished that angry declaration than he looked off to the side and quickly dashed for it. A split second later, another explosion was kicked up, followed by yet another yell of anger as he missed his target _again_. "Come out, come out, _wherever_ you are, you little _rat!_ "

"Why Airen hunting stupid panda?" Shampoo wondered aloud as she and Ukyo watched Ranma continue his rampage through the district.

"Genma must've found out about Ranma's plans to leave," Ukyo muttered as she tried to understand the situation as well. "He must've tried to stop him somehow and Ranchan didn't take it too well."

"But how panda stop him?" Shampoo asked. "Only way would be…" Realization dawned on both girls instantly.

"If he has the ticket!" they both shouted, looking at one another with wide eyes. No other words were needed to shared, they already knew what needed to be done. Leaping forward, they rushed to join the fray.

* * *

Ranma was starting to _really_ lose his temper. Finding Genma was proving to be a very difficult experience thanks to that damn cloak he was able to wrap around himself, which disguised his ki from Ranma's highly attuned senses. Although he was starting to understand how the cloak worked, thanks to Genma's repeated use of the technique, that didn't mean that he understood fully what it was meant for. Genma was trying to escape rather than trying to confront his enraged son after all. He knew that in Ranma's state of heightened awareness and anger provided the boy with a massive boost in his abilities and so would easily be able to shrug off most of his most powerful attacks while using the Umisenken. The Yamasenken's more powerful and confrontational approach might buy him some breathing space, but only for a few moments. And what a sobering realization _that_ was!

' _Brute force isn't going to work on the boy anymore_ ,' Genma realized, exercising that near-fully decomposed organ inside his skull to the fullest of its tiny capacity. ' _I need to catch him unawares, strike from the shadows, knock him down long enough to make a clean getaway!_ ' Looking about as he sprinted down the road, dodging his son as best he could, he spotted what looked like an abandoned office building, fenced off from the public with numerous bulldozers and other demolition equipment scattered about in its parking lot. ' _Perfect!_ '

As he sprinted for the building in question, Genma paid no mind to the grizzled demolition chief who was barking out orders to his team. "Alright, ladies, we've got a lot to do today! I want this building rigged and charged, ready to blow in three hours!"

Hovering high in the sky over the city, Ranma stretched out his senses as far as he could, searching for any trace of Genma's energy. ' _I always knew he was a thief, but this technique of his just cinches it! I bet he made it for the EXPLICIT PURPOSE of robbing someone blind! But, dammit, how is he managing to hide his ki so well?!_ ' Then, his head jerked off to the side where he could sense the presence of someone else he loathed. But then he realized something. "I bet he knows! He _always_ knows where Genma is!"

Rocketing towards the pervy presence, Ranma came in fast and hard stop, causing a small trench to form in the concrete as he drew to a halt before the startled Grandmaster. For his part, Happosai recoiled away in surprise from Ranma's abrupt arrival and near-murderous expression. Jumping to conclusions slightly, the old man began trying to protect the bulging bag of his silky darlings he was carrying over his back like usual.

Not giving the pervy gnome time to speak, the pigtailed fighter simply barked out, " _Genma! WHERE?!_ "

For just a moment, Happosai stared at Ranma with a completely neutral expression as he took in the rather substantial changes the boy had undergone in the last few days. Gone was the look of the naïve teenager and aspiring disciple he had been. No longer did he carry himself like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders thanks all of the machinations and poor choices of his father. The look in his eye was severe, demanding, but confident. It was the hard look of a tried and true warrior. ' _What have I missed while I was away?_ '

Rather than answer verbally, Happosai merely pointed to the side, towards a very particular office building. With a just a quick glance back at the gnome that promised pain if he was lying, Ranma turned and shot off into the air with a blaze of ki. Curious at what was going on but also deciding to not get directly involved this time, Happosai leapt up and settled down upon the roof of a nearby three-story building to watch the latest mayhem continue to unfold. Sensing the arrival of a familiar presence behind him, Happosai dug out his pipe as he said, "It would appear I've missed a great deal in these last few weeks."

"More than you likely realize," Cologne stated, taking a seat nearby as she nursed a cup of her favorite tea.

"Hm…I wonder how this little…struggle will change the dynamics of my disciples," he said quietly to himself. After a moment of consideration, he glanced at the old woman asked, "Tell me about what's changed."

Meanwhile, Genma had found a spot within the third floor of the building. Feeling safe for the moment, he finally dropped the Umisenken and breathed a small sigh of relief. "Yes, this is _perfect!_ I can hide in here far _easier_ than anywhere else. I'll know immediately when he _enters_. And I can get out quickly to _drop the building_ _on him_ with the Yamasenken! Hehehe, the boy won't know what _hit_ him! It pays to think outside the box!" But before he could fully lose himself to his gloating arrogance, he noticed something outside one of the windows, "What's that light?"

Floating above the building in question, Ranma felt a vicious smile cross his face as he finally sensed his father. And it was coming from inside the building as well! ' _Heh, Happy actually told the truth!_ ' Cupping his hands as he properly angled himself in the air, he began channeling his ki in a specific way for the first time in three years. "Kamehame—HA!"

The ki beam blasted from Ranma's hands and went plummeting towards the center of the building's roof, impacting with all the power and finesse of a ton of dynamite. The explosion was so loud and large that it was easily noticeable by everyone in the district for miles around, pummeling many unfortunate nearby buildings and random civilians with debris. And the rising plume of smoke and ash served as a beacon to all interested parties.

Mere seconds before the building was destroyed in the flash of a ki explosion, Ranma spotted a fat form dressed in a white gi leaping for his life out of a window. Ranma was on Genma in an instant, slamming into him like a wrecking ball and sending the man into an uncontrolled plummet for the ground near to the demolition crew. Having gained tunnel vision somewhat due to his frantic pursuit and overwhelming desire to beat the tar out of his father, Ranma failed to notice that the very item he sought so desperately slipped out of the man's grasp as he was knocked away. Dropping his knees into Genma's expansive gut as he landed on him to further incapacitate him, Ranma wasted no time in utterly pummeling the fat man remorselessly. There was no way this…this…this _thing_ was going to be walking away scot-free! He was going to beat him to within an _inch of his life!_

Off to the side, the demolition chief just gazed at the destruction that had been wrought mere seconds ago. None of his men had been in the building and none of their explosive charges were set. This was clearly the work of the infamous Wrecking Crew, as evidenced by the teenager savaging the fat man nearby. Shrugging, the man turned to his crew and called out, "Okay… _Lunch break!_ "

Finally arriving on the site of the battle, a familiar little rodent-faced man dressed in ninja fatigues quickly began scouring along the ground. He'd seen something golden glinting in the air as the fat man had been set upon. According to his master, it was an object of great importance to Saotome. So, obviously, his master wanted it, if only to deny it from Saotome. Spotting something golden partially buried under some rubble and dust of the collapsed building, Sasuke rushed up and found what looked like a movie ticket. ' _Odd little thing to be the cause of all this pointless destruction_.'

But, disregarding his personal feelings on the matter, the little ninja quickly plucked it up and rushed back to his master, who was strolling casually forward and looking upon all the destruction with a disdainful gaze. "Yes, this is truly the work of that foul sorcerer. But, finally, his wicked ways will be put to an end and I shall at last free my precious maidens from his abominable clutches."

"Master! I believe I found what you seek!" Sasuke announced as he appeared beside the all-mighty Blue Thunder, holding out a golden object in his hands.

Without even bothering to look at what it was, Kuno Tatewaki grabbed the object in his free hand while he hefted up his mighty and honorable bokken before pointing it challengingly over towards where the Saotome cur was. This whole time the foul creature Saotome had been beating upon a fat, old man with innumerable kicks and punches to anywhere and everywhere that hurt. In fact, he was actually in the process of dislocating the man's knee when Tatewaki finally made his presence known.

"Foul sorcerer, I have what you seek!" Tatewaki fearlessly announced, causing Saotome to freeze just before he could make the twist needed to pop the joint out of place. Seeing that he'd gained his hated nemesis's attention, the great samurai continued, "Deliver to me the pigtailed girl or I will destroy it!" Unnoticed by Kuno, his little ninja had quickly turned and fled the area, already guessing what was about to happen and wanting no part of it.

Finally dropping the whimpering and _very_ injured man to the ground, Ranma slowly turned towards Kuno with a cold look in his eyes. "Tell me, Kuno. How flexible is your spine?" What a strange question…

Blasting forward while enshrouded in a malevolent aura, the cur was upon the Kuno scion before he could do anything. Just seconds before Ranma's fist connected with his face, Kuno realized, somewhere in the back of his squirrelly little brain, that this _might not_ have been a good idea. So enthusiastic was Ranma to visit immense pain upon the lunatic samurai-wannabe after all those months of enduring torment from him, that he failed to notice the ticket go flying from Kuno's grasp in the ensuing violence.

The next person to pick up the ticket was a sickly teenager with a ghost-white complexion for skin. He had followed the explosions from the start but had only just now caught up. "Nabiki's information was right!" he whispered in joy to himself as he cradled the ticket to his chest and quickly scampered away, wanting to get as far away from the even more out of control than normal Saotome as he could, leaving Kuno to his long-overdue torture. Ducking behind one of the bulldozers nearby, Gosunkugi Hikaru sneered triumphantly at the magic ticket. "Once I destroy this, there'll be no chance of Akane following after Ranma!" He grabbed the ticket in preparation of tearing it into pieces.

But before he had the chance, a black rose hit him in his face, unleashing a cloud of paralysis powder in the process. Frantically coughing, Gosunkugi inadvertently and uncontrollably breathed in the fumes and was quickly frozen in place. As the paralysis powder cleared, he heard the demented laughter of one Kuno Kodachi. Dressed in her usual leotard and idly twirling a ribbon in one hand, she gazed upon the helpless boy like a lion might look at a mouse. Edible, but not really worth their time.

"Now, now, little shrew," she purred out after she finished her typical entrance laughter. "You shouldn't concern yourself with the problems of your betters. Unless you wish to become acquainted with Mr. Turtle? He's gotten quite hungry recently." As Gosunkugi trembled as violently as he could through the paralysis, Kodachi burst into laughter again as she plucked the ticket from him. Without another word, she turned and leapt to a nearby rooftop, away from the carnage that was being visited upon her idiot brother.

"Kahahahahaha!" she laughed out, relishing in her triumph. "Yes! With this, I will have saved my Ranma-darling! Now, he won't be forced to leave me! Oh! Maybe I can finally banish that hateful redheaded trollop instead! Oooohhh, Ranma-darling! I wonder what we should do as a victory celebration?" She couldn't help cupping her cheeks with a bright flush gracing her face as all types of romantic encounters played wildly through her head, some quite innocent and others…not so much.

So lost in her fantasies was she, Kodachi failed the notice the approach of two angry and disgusted harlots. At least, not until an overwhelming killing intent and desire to crush her washed over her. Jumping to the side, she just barely dodged the powerful hammer blow of a heavy chui, which knocked a large hole through the roof of the building. As Kodachi floundered momentarily, trying to regain her footing and assess the situation, a barrage of spatula were thrown at her. Well, more specifically, thrown at her arm that still held the ticket, one of them hitting her hand with bruising force and forcing her to drop the ticket. Before she could make a lunge for it, Ukyo swept her large battle-spatula forward from her backpack, sending the ticket flying away from the wind her strike caused and safely out of reach of Kodachi's grasping fingers and flicking ribbon.

After just a moment of watching the ticket flutter away, Kodachi rounded upon her two attackers angrily. "You harridans! Don't you know that this is the only way to save Ranma-darling!"

"The only one he needs saving from is _you_ , you lunatic!" Ukyo countered swiftly, Shampoo giving an agreeing "Aiyah!". No more words were spoken as the three engaged once another in a vicious brawl of ribbons, spatulas, and chui.

As the trio's little skirmish began, none of them noticed a small chain go sailing through the air and catch the fluttering ticket, yanking it out of the air and back to the chain's master. Catching the ticket, Mousse sneered at it in disgust for a second before tucking it safely into his hidden weapons space. Looking off towards where he could vaguely see a couple of clashing figures, one of whom he assumed was his beloved future-wife, Mousse shouted out with desperation in his voice, "Shampoo! I won't let you run away with him!"

Sadly, his desperate but proud declaration only attracted the attention of the last person he wanted to see. And even without his glasses on, Mousse could immediately identify him thanks to that wretched red shirt of his as he seemed to appear out of nowhere in front of him. " _Duckboy! TICKET!_ _ **NOW!**_ "

"You'll _never_ take it from me, Saotome!" Mousse cried out defiantly and proudly, confident and secure in his knowledge that _no one_ could— Without missing a beat, Ranma grabbed Mousse's wrist and reached his own arm up into the Amazon's expansive sleeves. After just a second of rifling around, Ranma pulled his arm out, a golden ticket and a large, heavy chain in his grip. Mousse was too busy gawking at that impossible feat to be able to put up any fight when Ranma quickly bound him up tightly with his own chain. "Wh-Wh- _What?_ H-How did—?"

"Simple!" Ranma interrupted the stuttering and dumbfounded boy as he stuffed the ticket safely into his own pants pocket. Then he grabbed the boy by his shoulder, spun him around, and punted him across the clearing made by the demolished building while yelling out, "I'M _BETTER_ THAN YOU!"

' _But you're NOT better than me!_ ' Genma thought darkly, desperately. Once more safely hidden under his Umisenken, he reached into Ranma's pocket and grabbed the ticket. As quickly as he could muster his horribly mangled, beaten, and very broken body, the fat man limped weakly away from Ranma. ' _No more playing around! I need to dispose of it RIGHT NOW!_ '

Flinching in surprise as a black rose bomb went off just a few paces away from him. As Genma stared at the burning debris it caused, overwhelming relief washed over him. He limped and stumbled his way over to the small flame as quickly as he could, tripping on some loose rubble just as he was nearing it. His fall caused him to hit and jostle a lot of the injuries that Ranma had inflicted on him in his fury. Along with his exhaustion and greatly depleted ki reserves, Genma was forcefully ejected from the Umisenken as a result. Nonetheless, he still reached out and dropped the ticket into the small flames, grinning in relief as he watched the accursed thing catch fire.

Sensing Genma's presence reappear near him, Ranma whirled around, ready to face him down again. He had just enough time to see Genma dropping the ticket into the flames before realization struck like a mallet to the gut.

" _ **NOOOO!**_ " he screamed, blitzing past Genma and reaching into the fire in a _frantic_ attempt to save the ticket. But even with his vastly improved speeds, by the time he reached it, the ticket was just a burnt out and shriveled slip of paper, it's magic long gone.

"Gehe…hehe…heheh!" Genma chuckled as best he could around bruised, cracked, and even two outright broken ribs, knowing the same thing that Ranma did. "I win, boy!"

And he really _did_ win this time! Without that ticket, there was _no way_ the boy could return that ridiculous fantasy! He was well and truly trapped here! Now, he could finally move on and get with the program! He'll _make sure_ the damn brat marries the Tendo girl, takes over the dojo, spreads the Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū, and gives Genma his much, much, _much_ deserved retirement! Finally, everything was looking up for the Saotome patriarch!

Then, slowly, Ranma turned his head to look down on the man who lay in a crumpled heap next to him. The look on his face was well past thunderous, beyond frothing fury, and too far gone to be mind-numbing rage. Oh no, the look he was giving Genma was one that _promised_ death – _**immediate death**_. Suffice to say, Ranma was no longer thinking straight as he stared at Genma with the desire and intention for patricide clearly visible in his eyes.

Without saying a word, Ranma stood back up slowly and turned to face the man. Almost mechanically raising his hand, Ranma began forming a ball of ki that contained more than enough power to completely destroy all of Japan and concentrated all of that energy into palm of his hand, pointed straight down towards the cowering Genma.

But before Ranma could unleash his attack that _most assuredly_ have destroyed the entire district, a loud crash of lightning filled the air. The sky turned black overhead despite being bright and sunny a mere seconds ago. Everyone within the vicinity looked up at the sky, confused and fear quickly beginning mount. Then, in another flash of light, a massive beast appeared in the skies overhead with a loud roar. As the blinding flash of light that was emitting from the monster faded away, the people of Japan beheld the majestic sight of a large, green serpentine dragon.

Shenron had appeared.

* * *

( **Author's Note** ) Ghehehehe! Damn! Once I started on this chapter, I just couldn't stop! I hope I managed to capture the complete bedlam and chaos that is typical of Nerima fights, as well as most of the major characters and players. I can't tell you all how cathartic it is for me to be able to punch out these chapters so quickly! My only disappoint is that I wish I could get more reviews from you guys.

So, tell me, how many of you thought that Ranma was going to easily be able to get the ticket and manage to make a clean getaway? Not too many of you, I hope. I mean, this is Nerima after all! Things _ALWAYS_ go from bad to worse (in a **_SPECTACULARLY_ **destructive fashion) before they start to get better!

And now we've got an unexpected visit from someone who I'm sure many of you weren't expecting to see! What's he doing here and who sent him?

Also, can anyone guess where I got that scene with the demolition crew from? Heheh, that was one of my more favorite funny scenes that I've been meaning to use for years and only now just managed it.

 **One final note** : I'm sorry to say that this will most likely be the **last **of the 'fast updates' I make for a while. See, I'd been on vacation these past two weeks, and it's back to the grindstone for me now. Less time to write and brainstorm, I'm afraid. So, sorry if that disappoints you guys.

 **Power Levels** :

Cologne ( **age…unknown** ): 380  
Happosai ( **age…unknown** ): 330  
Ranma ( **age 16** ): 250  
Genma ( **age 41** ): 110  
Ryoga ( **age 16** ): 95  
Soun ( **age 41** ): 90  
Shampoo ( **age 16** ): 90  
Ukyo ( **age 16** ): 85  
Mousse ( **age 16** ): 70  
Akane ( **age 16** ): 60  
Kodachi Kuno ( **age 16** ): 55  
Tatewaki Kuno ( **age 17** ): 40  
Kasumi ( **age 19** ): 5  
Nabiki ( **age 17** ): 5


	5. A Horse Departs

**.**

 **Son Ranma  
** By: Tellemicus Sundance  
Co-Authored by: Fiori75  
 _#05: A Horse Departs_

 **March 1, Age 756**

It was bright and sunny out, as it always was up on the Lookout. That tends to happen when the palace was floating high above any type of rain clouds that drifted around the planet far below. For young Goku, this was absolutely perfect weather to train in, even if the air up here was rather thin. ' _Actually, that just makes training up here even better!_ '

The young fighter Goku had grown quite substantially in the past three years, though he honestly hadn't really noticed. He'd been quite busy, focusing his mind completely on the task of training himself under Kami and Mr. Popo. Their training was grueling and very demanding, but not necessarily dangerous to a well-prepared martial artist. Goku had grown immensely as a fighter these past few years, he could tell. And while he didn't necessarily train his body all that much, beyond simply maintaining his strength and abilities, he focused heavily on learning fine control of his ki. Learning how to sense movement around him by the faintest and lightest of movements through the air, and sensing the presence of others, even if they were moving at speeds faster than the eye could track.

And it was this particular type of training that Goku was undergoing at this very moment. Bouncing and dashing about the tile floor of the Lookout at super speeds, moving as fast as he could while using his ki to bolster his body, while also feeling out the presence of the black genie he was in combat with. Dressed in a simple blue robe, yellow pants, basic boots, and wearing a turban upon his head like his master in order to keep his hair out of the way and be less of a distraction, Goku jumped and dodged about, scanning his surroundings carefully with both his eyes and ears, as well as his ki sense.

' _He's around here somewhere_ ,' he thought knowingly. ' _He's just waiting for me to get_ —' Sensing a presence appearing behind him, Goku lunged to side, cleanly dodging the fist that otherwise would've knocked him senseless. Reacting instantly, he spun around and shot back towards the same spot just as the black genie rematerialized there. With a slight cry, Goku launched a left straight that caught the genie squarely in his gut, sending him bouncing back across the floor. Panting slightly from the exertion of maintaining such high speeds for so long, Goku slowly slid back into his ready stance as he waited for Mr. Popo to rise and continue the session.

However, a quiet applause from the sole spectator brought that to a halt. Turning to face the Guardian of the Earth, Goku smiled slightly over at his mentor as he said, "Well done, Goku. That was a most excellent demonstration. You really have grown greatly in skill since you've first arrived."

"Indeed," Mr. Popo agreed amiably, smiling his usual smile. "This time it was five seconds shorter than the previous session. A great improvement, Goku."

Chuckling as he scratched the back of his head, Goku couldn't stop the smile from blossoming on his face. "Yeah, I'm just feeling really excited these days! The tournament's almost here and I can't wait to see everyone again!" As he continued, it was more him talking to himself and expressing his feelings than really talking with his masters. "I bet the others have been training really hard as well! I wonder just how much they've improved since I've been away! I can't wait to spar with everyone again! Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and especially otouto! He always gave me the best fights! Heheheh!"

Blinking, Kami stared at Goku somewhat in surprise and a slight amount of guilt. "Ah, I thought you knew, Goku."

"Huh?" Goku said, looking up at the Guardian as he focused his attention on him. "Knew what? What's going on, Kami-sama?"

"Your 'brother,' Ranma, has not returned," Kami stated bluntly, surprising Goku considerably.

"Wh-Wh- _WHAT?!_ " Goku cried out, quite confused and even feeling a little bit betrayed. "What do you mean?! I thought my wish on Shenron was for _everyone_ killed by King Piccolo or his children to be revived! You mean Ranma _wasn't?!_ "

"That is correct, Goku," Kami stated calmly in the face of Goku's fast-growing agitation. Holding up his hand to forestall his student jumping to conclusions, the old green man explained, "He was taken back to his home by his father, who had come looking and found him shortly after his last battle at the previous tournament."

Goku paused, thinking on that. He didn't know too much about his brother figure's parents. As far as Goku understood it, Ranma's mother must've died when he was born or very young. Ranma hadn't known anything about her, just a few very, _very_ vague memories of when he was very young that he could barely remember anymore. But on the other hand, his father featured quite prominently in his brother's early childhood life, being his primary trainer and caretaker. But, for all that the man was an exceptional martial arts trainer and a semi-respectable fighter, he was a _bad man_. Even 12-year-old Goku, with how incredibly limited his understanding of the wider world and how families worked, had been able to see what kind of man his brother had for a father, just based on a few of the stories he'd heard. Like constantly stealing food from his own son's plate, such a thing was tantamount to sacrilege and the desecration of holy site as far as Goku was concerned, especially when it was done to _little_ kids! But unquestionably the worst of the things he'd done had been that horrible, _horrible_ 'training' that Ranma had had to undergo mere days before he'd run away and bumped into Goku. That farce of a training had put a deep and almost irrational fear of cats into the young boy. It had taken Master Roshi, Goku, and Krillin the better part of their year-long training regimen to help Ranma start taking the steps needed to recover and overcome that trauma. Trauma that had been caused by a fool who should never have been held any type of parental authority over any child!

And this man had managed to find Ranma during the last tournament? Goku knew his brother very well. Unless that man had some type of blackmail material over his head, there is _no way_ Ranma would've wanted to go with him! And even if Ranma had to go back with the man for whatever reason, there was even _less_ of a chance that he'd just disappear without saying goodbye. Sure, Goku wasn't all that great with farewells either, but he didn't go out of his way to _avoid_ them either! ' _Something about this isn't adding up_.'

Refocusing on Kami, Goku gave the Guardian a serious look as he asked, "Do you know why he didn't say goodbye?"

Slowly, Kami nodded. "He wasn't taken _willingly_ back home."

" _Why_ didn't you tell me _sooner?!_ " Goku yelled, his temper flaring. "All this time, my otouto's been stuck with _that man_ and I've been _here_ when I could've been doing something to _help_ _him!_ "

"You had other things of more importance to worry about," Kami stated sharply, his face stern as he met Goku's anger with his usual apathy. "The son of King Piccolo is still out there. You needed to focus on your training so that you'll be ready to kill him when the time comes. To have told you of your brother's fate sooner would've caused you to lose focus and interrupt your training." Though he could see Goku's anger diminish, a clear sign that he understood Kami's points, it was also obvious that he was still quite upset. Letting out a heavy sigh of resignation, Kami decided to compromise slightly, "But I believe you are now strong enough that a departure from your training will not adversely affect your ability to defeat Piccolo. You may leave to gather the Dragonballs and bring him back."

Immediately, Goku's stern and disappointed expression cleared as a small but eager smile crossed his lips. Without another word, he turned and hurried towards his room in the Lookout. He had supplies he needed to gather and pack, including one very important radar.

* * *

 **March 20, Age 756**

"It's right around here somewhere," Goku mumbled under his breathe as he looked around. He stood upon the top of a large hill amidst a sea of rolling hills and swaying golden grasses, which gave off the illusion of being waves in the ocean. Hanging over his shoulder was a sports-bag that clicked and bumped hollow sounds whenever he made too sharp of a movement.

Looking down at the small radar that fit the palm of his hand, Goku swept it from side to side, trying to get a better reading. According the radar, he should've been right on top of the last ball, but he couldn't see it anywhere. "Where is it?"

Taking a step forward to explore the area, his foot landed on something small and round. Whatever it was, it shifted and rolled under his foot, catching him by surprise and causing him to flounder somewhat ungracefully as he tried to regain his footing. But after only a second of this, he recovered and looked down at what he'd stepped on. Partially buried in the loose soil and long grass was an orange sphere with six red stars within it gleamed up at him in the bright sunlight.

"Hey! There you are!" Goku cried out happily as he quickly snatched up the last Dragonball. Grinning widely, he unshouldered the bag he was carrying and walked over to a flatter area of the hill he was upon.

He set the balls down upon the ground in a close cluster as gently as he could, trying to be somewhat respectful towards the massive dragon they contained within. Once they were nicely organized, he stepped back and watched as they started flashing a golden light, almost beckoningly. "Eternal Dragon! By your name, I summon you forth! Shenron!"

The sky overhead darkened as a burst of lightning shot out of the seven balls before him. Emerging from that lightning bolt, a massive green dragon materialized, letting out a loud groan that echoed like thunder into the distance as he was once again awakened from his fitful slumber. "I AM SHENRON, THE ETERNAL DRAGON! YOU HAVE DISTURBED ME FROM MY SLUMBER! SPEAK, AND I SHALL GRANT YOU ANY WISH!"

There were no words that could describe just how joyously happy Goku felt upon seeing the Dragon again after more than three years and seeing him get killed by Piccolo Daimao. But he didn't allow himself to get swept away by nostalgia just yet, yelling out, "Shenron! I wish for my brother, Ranma, to be brought back home!"

"AS YOU WISH!" Shenron growled out, his red eyes gaining a supernatural glow as he brought all his power to bear.

* * *

 **November 16, 1990**

Screams and chaos echoed across the vast city. Some of the screams were of pure terror, believing that one of the dragons of ancient times had come back to visit terrible destruction upon the sinful humanity. Other screams were of awe and joy, they recognized this dragon and despite the sheer impossibility of it, there he was! But the people of the district who were within his immediate gaze, many of them just stood frozen in place, whether from terror or confusion or just awe at his overwhelming size.

"Is that…Shenron?" one of the students of Furinkan High School asked, gawking and pointing dumbly up at the green serpent dangling in the sky overhead.

"I…I think so…" replied another. "I'm not dreaming, am I?!"

"If you are, then so am I!" said a third.

"What are we still doing here?!" screamed a boy with a demented grin on his face. "If that's Shenron, then I can finally get my deepest wish!" And he promptly took off running in a desperate bid to reach the dragon before anyone else beat him to it. Within just a few seconds, there was a literal stampede of covetous teenagers and kids who were racing up to get their own wishes granted.

To the side, a man dressed in a simple business suit and tie watched the horde run off, glanced up at the looming dragon, and couldn't help shaking his head in disgust. "Fuckin' Nermia. At least in Juuban, we only had to deal with demons."

But it was where Shenron was gazing down at that had easily the interesting reactions of the entire district, if not all of Japan. Genma, who had been seconds away from meeting his ancestors in the afterlife, was of two minds about the beast. On the one hand, overwhelmingly grateful to the beast's arrival, distracting his son long enough for him to scramble away to safety. But on the other, absolutely terrified and confused as to what this beast was and what it wanted. Despite his journey into that fantasy world to retrieve his son, Genma never actually did any type of research into the basic story, characters, or lore behind it. All he'd cared about was getting his meal ticket back as soon as possible, so he didn't recognize this dragon at all.

Mousse, Cologne, and Shampoo all stared up at the dragon in reverence and awe. A creature of their lore and just general Chinese legend had appeared. What could this mean? In most of the legends, the arrival of dragons signified something of great importance was about to occur. Whether it be to raise a recently enlightened Buddhist monk into the heavens, bringing the rains and tides, and protecting the heavenly realms from all malevolent forces that be threatening it. So, for a dragon to suddenly appear here?! Something truly momentous was about to happen!

Kodachi had the exact opposite reaction as her Chinese rival, immediately turning and running off. While she was only passingly familiar with the Japanese legends, she was sadly much more familiar with the bestial, fire-breathing myths of dragons from Europe, thanks to her idiot brother's influence. And as much as she might've loved her Ranma-darling, she loved her precious black roses more. And they needed to be protected from this pyromaniac beast!

Much like his sister, Tatewaki had completely eschewed the traditional Japanese myths of the dragon because the idea of magnificent knights and samurai riding off to comfort a terrible beast, save the beautiful maiden, and steal the dragon's golden horde appealed to his ego far more greatly. So, with European legends filling his head, Tatewaki found himself cursing that foul sorcerer all the more. At last, the cur was finally showing his true colors by summoning this despicable beast after using his wicked magics to incapacitate him! Thanks to all of his limbs being broken and numerous joints dislocated, to which allowed Ranma to wrap him up into a _literal_ pretzel shape more easily, Tatewaki was too badly injured to stand up and slay this vile serpent and finally save his beloved pigtailed girl from Saotome's abhorrent clutches or even to protect the fierce tigress Tendo Akane! A true once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make the public see and understand the _greatness_ he possessed thanks to his unrivaled training regimen and noble samurai bloodline, and he was unable to act on it! Truly, Saotome's wickedness knew no bounds!

However, the one person who wasn't paralyzed in fear or awe was also the one who had the loudest reaction. Happy laughter erupted from Ranma as he dissipated his ki blast. Shooting up into the air until he was somewhat level with Shenron's face, he called out, "Shenron! Long time, no see! Are you here for why I _think_ you're here?"

"I AM HERE TO RETURN YOU HOME, RANMA," the dragon acknowledged, his deep voice thundering across the cityscape, easily heard by all watching.

" _Yes!_ " Ranma cheered, throwing his arms back in elation. " _WHOO-_ _ **HOOO!**_ " The smile on Ranma's face was now almost permanently emplaced now. Absolutely _nothing_ could remove it from him! He was finally going home. He was going back to the one place he'd ever been truly free before. No longer would his life be shackled down and contained by those who'd wanted to try and control him for their own stupid desires. He'd never have to deal with all of these self-centered, egotistical idiots and their petty issues _ever again!_

One of those very people just happened to be a very injured Genma, who was staring up at the dragon with rapidly dawning realization and mounting horror. ' _The boy knows this beast? But how…No. No! NO! It must be from that fantasy world! And it's here to take him back!_ ' If he'd been able to, Genma would've launched himself and his most powerful and forbidden attack at the dragon in a desperate bid to stop it from taking his meal ticket away. Sadly, his terrible injuries and exhaustion from his overuse of the Umisenken had worn him down badly and he could do little more than look around wildly for someone, _anyone_ , he could con into doing his work for him. And upon seeing a familiar face off to the side who had yet to participate in the chaos, Genma found the perfect puppet to do just that!

"SOUN!" Genma screamed, his frantic voice catching Soun's attention quickly. "STOP THAT BEAST! IT'S HERE TO _TAKE_ _ **RANMA**_ _AWAY!_ "

Whatever type of fear or reverence Soun might've been feeling was instantly washed away as he heard those words and realized the true significance of what was occurring. If this dragon took Ranma away, then their dream of uniting the Tendo and Saotome styles and bloodlines would truly fail! He would never become the grandfather he'd been dreaming of for more than twenty years. He'd never see his precious little girl find a loving and strong husband. He'd never see his dream of his dojo once again coming alive with eager and excited disciples again. His home would become a barren husk, like how it had been after his wife had died.

Eyes hardening, stance firming, Soun drew upon the sliver of courage he possessed and began exuding his battle aura. To the eyes of the uninitiated, it seemed as though Tendo Soun had spontaneously donned a set of traditional samurai armor while growing to an immense height, enough to rival the likes of most kaiju! This sudden growth and the flare of his ki while doing so easily attracted both Ranma and the dragon's attentions, both glancing over at him with curious but also annoyed gazes.

"ENOUGH!" Soun thundered as he drew out a kodachi from his waist and drew it back, preparing to strike. "I WILL _NOT_ LET YOU TAKE HIM, DRAGON!"

Lunging forward to strike, Soun let out a mighty warcry. But before his blade came anywhere close enough to strike and cleave the dragon's head from its body, the dragon let out a small hum of surprise as it cocked one of its massive brows, looking squarely at the samurai-wannabe. This tiny action might've seemed benevolent to everyone else, but to Soun it was something else. It was akin to the creature rearing up and roaring a mighty challenge into his face. It was the implied threat that it saw him like an annoying fly buzzing around its head, ready to be swatted aside if it annoyed the dragon too much, was how Soun's interpreted that little hum.

The shock and terror this caused him made him lose his concentration and resolve faster than a firecracker going off. His abundant fear brought to life dozens of images of what sort of terrible things such a powerful creature could do to him and his family. Like a balloon losing it's air, Soun's battle aura rapidly vanished, his massive visage deflating back to his normal size, and he was left in a cowering position on the ground, begging for Shenron's forgiveness and mercy.

"AMUSING," Shenron stated, a hint of amusement in his tone as he stared down at the coward.

As Genma was trying to berate and encourage Soun to try again, Ranma was sending an angry glare down at the Tendo patriarch. After a moment, he shook those thoughts clear and Ranma turned his gaze to the scene of paused chaos below him, taking in the shocked, fearful, confused, and angry expressions of the different players and movers he'd had to deal with lately. Shooting disgusted glares at the likes of Tatewaki, Mousse, Soun, and Genma, a cocky smirk over towards where he could see an annoyed and bewildered Nabiki who'd been trying to watch and hustle the chaos from a 'safe distance' to the side, and then there was Shampoo and Ukyo who stood amongst a small battlefield littered with black roses. They stared up at him while were still wearing their backpacks… Looking closer down at them, he saw both of them had the same expressions of everyone else, but they also had an interesting look of hope and mounting despair on their face.

' _That's right_ ,' he realized with a start, having forgotten his promise in the heat of the battle. ' _I did make a promise to them_.' Turning his attention back to Shenron, he called out, "Shenron, I'm ready to go, but can I bring a few people along with me as well?"

Looking at the boy, Shenron made no move for a long moment, just staring at Ranma in silent contemplation with those glowing red eyes. After several moments of silence, the dragon finally spoke, "THE WISH _IS_ OPEN-ENDED ENOUGH TO ALLOW THIS. SO LONG AS THEY HOLD ONTO YOU."

Nodding, Ranma dropped back down to the ground right in front of the girls. Before they or anyone else could run up to him, whether to stop him or join him, Ranma gathered up both girls in his arms and quickly rose back up into the air, earning startled squeaks of surprise and happy mewls from them in response as they latched tightly onto his body and each other for support. Returning to his previous level, Ranma shot both girls a firm look as he said, "This is your last chance, girls. Are you two _sure_ you want this?"

"Shampoo go where Airen go!" the Amazon answered without hesitation, a stern look in her eyes to go along with the happy face she was wearing as she clung to her husband tightly.

"What she said, Ranchan," Ukyo agreed, looking a little unsure but squeezing onto him tighter nonetheless.

Nodding, Ranma and the girls looked up at the dragon as he called out, "Okay, Shenron! Let's go!"

The red glow of the dragon's eyes intensified briefly. Then, in a flash of blinding golden light and a crack of thunder, the encompassing darkness suddenly vanished from the sky. The massive dragon had also vanished with the flash back to realms unknown, taking the three humans along with him for the ride. All was silent on the ground for a long moment as people stared up at the now empty sky uncomprehendingly.

* * *

In a small, modest home elsewhere in Japan, an elderly but still quite beautiful auburn-haired lady was making herself some tea. She had been watching her favorite romantic comedy when a breaking news report had flashed onto the screen. She didn't pay much attention to the news reporter as he was spouting ridiculous stories about a dragon appearing over Nerima with an unnaturally darkened sky overhead. Although, she would admit that the small flashes of footage they had of said creature were quite well done. It almost looked real. However, such things simply didn't really exist in the modern day. So, clearly, it was just a clever hoax of some sort.

 _TCCRRKKKK!_ As she was reaching for her tea cup, a loud crack of breaking glass rang out through the room. Saotome Nodoka glanced sharply over at where she heard the noise emanate from. Standing up and moving hurriedly over to the picture that was mounted on the wall, Nodoka carefully picked it up and stared at the damage that had been done.

The picture in question was the only one she had of her family. It was a portrait that had her, Genma, and her sweet little son, taken just an hour before Genma had left with Ranma on their training journey. It was the only thing she had with her son's image on it. But now she stared down at the massive spiderweb of cracked glass. The center of the shattering had taken place over her son's face, eclipsing it from view. Almost as though it was trying to remove him from the family photo…

' _Something is wrong_ ,' her mother's intuition was telling her. Lifting her gaze, she glanced back at the television, which was showing a now blue and clear sky that was also noticeably empty of any dragons as well. "Isn't Nerima where Tendo-san lived? Perhaps I should pay the family a visit and find out what had happened just now?"

* * *

"He's _gone_ ," Akane whispered in shock, staring up at where she'd last seen Ranma floating in the air. "He really is… _gone_."

Unlike all other times, she hadn't bothered trying to get caught up in the chaos, not seeing the point in getting involved. After all, everyone was panicking over nothing. _Even if_ Ranma had somehow been telling the truth about him having been in the Dragonball world, that didn't mean that he was going to get back there! She may not know very much about magic, but she _did_ know that it was finicky at the best of times and rarely ever worked how it was intended to. Which meant that the chances of Ranma getting back there was slim to none in her mind. So, why bother trying to stop him from trying to get back when it was clear it wasn't going to work anyway?

But even though she didn't get involved, that didn't stop her from following after the chaos and watching it as it unfolded before her eyes. Needless to say, she'd been quite mesmerized at seeing just how much stronger Ranma had become, dominating all others who got in his way with an ease that was as awe-inspiring as it was humbling. These same guys, who'd once been able to fight him at a near even playing field, had been so utterly trounced and knocked aside, it was kind of amusing from an outsider's perspective.

In the depths of her mind, Akane quietly acknowledged that she had been well and truly left behind by Ranma. When she first met him, Akane had judged that they were fairly closely matched with him possessing greater speed where she specialized in strength. But now it was clear that with all of the training he'd been undergoing from Cologne, getting into so many fights, and taking part in so many matches and tournaments, he'd become a force of martial might that left her in the dust. On the one hand, as a martial artist, Akane was frothing mad with jealousy, wanting that strength and ability for herself, but was too unwilling to endure the hellish training she'd seen him undergo in order to get that strong. On the other hand, as a teenaged girl, Akane was quite joyously happy that her fiancée was so much stronger than her, making him all the more able and willing to protect her if things ever got bad, and she always enjoyed seeing him fight. He was always so graceful, so strong, and so gifted, that seeing him fight was always a treat for her. Watching him work out an opponent's strengths and weaknesses, turning impending defeat into a come-from-behind victory, it always got her blood flowing.

But now he was gone. He left for a world that he felt was better than the one they were in. He left her for where things were much more dangerous. Where the bad guys could destroy whole cities, even planets, in a fit of annoyance. Where he would never have a moment's rest, no doubt always having to train and fight and grow stronger. Never having a chance to truly relax for fear of an even stronger bad guy showing up when he was weak and unprepared. He left her to face a world of constant warfare. But why? What was so wrong with _this world_ that he didn't want to stay here? Here, he was easily the or one of the strongest fighters in the world. Here, he could relax and live a full and safe life with her. Here, there was no pressing need for him to maintain his strength or to get constantly stronger. Here, there was no looming threat that promised death and destruction to all. Here, it was more about fun and games in silly tournaments than life and death battles over a bunch of stupid starred magic balls! Here, he could show off his strength in safety and at his leisure. That was his favorite hobby after all!

And, to make matters worse, he didn't go alone! He left with Shampoo and Ukyo. He didn't even glance in her direction, and she _knew_ that he knew she was nearby! He dropped down to grab those two floozies but didn't try to include her. Why? Why had he decided to take them and not her? If he'd asked, she'd have gone with him! She would have! But he didn't. He didn't even look in her direction. He would rather spend his time in the Dragonball world with those two sluts than her? Why? _Why?! WHY?!_

As Akane started spiraling down into a deepening depression, an anger started bubbling to surface. In a desperate bid to forestall her mounting depression, Akane latched onto that anger and clung to it like it was a life vest while she was stranded out at sea. It was as much a need to stave off depression as it was to help her deal with the loss and the heartbreak she was feeling. Because, as much as she tried to tell everyone (including most especially herself), Akane did in fact love Ranma very much. And his abandonment of her just now was easily enough to shatter her heart into many, countless pieces.

Akane was so distraught and focused on her mounting rage to avoid admitting to her heartbreak, even to herself, that she failed to notice when Soun had arrived. He was busy wailing out a literal waterfall of tears, drenching the panda he was carrying over one shoulder, crying out about how he'd failed and how the schools would never be joined now. Strangely, the panda wasn't partaking in the waterworks of his friend. Genma was busy staring up at the sky with a calculative gaze in his beady eyes. As much as he wanted to use his son to mooch off of in the coming years, despite how much he used the boy as a bargaining chip, no matter how much he railed against the boy about being an embarrassment or a dishonorable lout, Genma did still love his son. And this loss cut deep…

In stark contrast to the growing depression and despair of the Saotome and Tendos, Tatewaki Kuno was positively crowing in joy. "YEEEESSSS! AT LAST! THE FOUL SORCERER HAS BEEN VANQUISHED! I HAVE FINALLY BANISHED HIM BACK TO THE NETHER REALMS! OOOOOH, WHAT A GLORIOUS DAY THIS IS! FINALLY, THE FIERCE AKANE TENDO AND THE PIGTAILED GIRL HAVE BEEN FREED OF THEIR CAPTIVITY! OOOOH, PIGTAILED GIRL! AKANE TENDO! WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY! AND IT'S ALL THANKS TO THE MIGHTY BLUE THUNDER! SLAYER THE TERRIBLE SERPENT AND SAVIOR OF THE WORLD!"

It wouldn't dawn on Kuno for a few months that he had absolutely _no idea_ how to find his pigtailed goddess without Ranma's presence.

Still seated upon the rooftop they'd taken up residence on, Happosai and Cologne both stared up at the sky with quiet contemplation. Cologne was sipping her cooling tea with a saddened expression on her face. In one fell swoop, she'd lost not only a truly remarkable, once-in-a-lifetime student to impart some of her best techniques and teachings to, but she's also lost her great-granddaughter, her heir and the last of her legacy in this world. The only consolidation she had was the almost certainty she felt at knowing that Shampoo would get her husband at long last.

"Looks like I won, Happy," she remarked quietly, sipping at her tea.

"Oh? How so?" Happosai asked, glancing at his companion with a curious but neutral expression.

"My blood is far more likely to join with his than any of your students," Cologne stated with certainty.

"Heheheh, only partially, Cologne," Happosai countered easily, letting out a smoke ring from his pipe.

"Oh? How so?" Cologne asked, glancing at him.

"The chef went with him, Cologne," Happosai pointed out, sending a slight grin at her briefly before again looking up at the sky. "And don't forget, _**I**_ don't much care about that silly agreement between my disciples. I only care that my best disciple is going to be spreading the greatness of the Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū to another world somewhere! No other martial art can claim something like _that!_ "

Cologne could only cackle lightly at that. Strange as it was, Happosai did have a point. Sadly, her merriment was quickly cut off as a loud voice cried out in despair and fury, " _SHAMPOO! HOW COULD YOU LEAVE_ _ **ME**_ _FOR_ _ **HIM!? SHAMPOO!**_ "

It was Mousse, still entrapped from when Ranma had bond him with his own chains. Somehow, during the chaos of the battle, he had ended dangling upside-down from a broken streetlight, flopping about like a fish caught on a line. As she gazed upon his entangled form, Cologne couldn't help but find a certain irony in that. As much as his own chains were binding and trapping him, so too was his single-minded and blind lust for her great-granddaughter chaining his spirit and preventing him from letting go, to find a new love and happiness elsewhere. It would've been sad if he wasn't already so pathetic.

On the other side of the chaotic field, a certain dark-haired youth appeared. He wore a yellow, long-sleeved shirt, black pants that were bond tightly around his shins, and a very familiar yellow and black bandana. Hibiki Ryoga looked around the chaos with a confused gaze. "Where the hell am I now? And what happened here? I thought I saw a giant dragon in this area, but where is it now?"

"Ryoga?" a familiar voice called from nearby. Looking towards it, he spotted Tendo Nabiki. "Looks like you just missed Ranma…for good."

"What do you mean 'for good'?" Ryoga demanded, an angry but confused look on his face.

"Ten thousand yen," Nabiki said bluntly, holding out her hand expectantly.

"I don't have any yen," Ryoga said as he unshouldered his backpack and started digging through it. "Will this do?" He casually pulled out a gold bullion.

Nabiki jolted in surprise before rushing over the thing to verify its authenticity. Picking up the bullion carefully, Nabiki winced slightly at its weight, which was proof enough for her that it was indeed solid gold. Turning it around to survey it thoroughly, she blinked in surprise when she saw the US seal and 24-karot stamp engraved into one of the sides of it. "W-W-W- _Where did you get this?!_ "

"I don't know, some place called 'Knox'," Ryoga said, waving his hand dismissively as he looked around at the ruins and the slowly-recovering combatants of the field. "I'm not sure where it was, but people were shooting at me again."

"Again?" Nabiki repeated, looking up at him questioningly. "What are y—? You know what? I'm not getting into that! Do you have any _more_ of these?!"

"A couple," Ryoga said guardedly, looking down at Nabiki with a frown, seeing the greedy gleam in her eyes.

"Five," Nabiki said sharply, barely able to keep herself from drooling in greedy anticipation.

After considering the offer for a moment, Ryoga shrugged before digging out four more bars. After all, he had taken a whole pallet's worth of bullion from this latest little misadventure of his. So, what was losing five of them to this worthless little leech? After digging them out, he didn't hand them over to Nabiki, seeing as she was having trouble holding just the one she already had. Despite the greedy look in her eyes, Nabiki seemed to realize what he was doing and why, nodding her thanks to him. Trying again, he said, "Now, what happened here?"

With such a high-paying customer, Nabiki decided to tell the undiluted truth. She told him about Ranma's unexpected boost in strength, his 'mental troubles' that caused him to become somewhat unstable, and then how Akane found out about him 'recovering his memories' and wanting to go back, along with Genma's frantic search to try and stop his son from leaving. All culminating in him taking Ukyo and Shampoo along with him when Shenron appeared and disappeared just moments ago. As much as her greed was driving her to try and milk Ryoga of all he was worth and then some more, she exercised some of her very underused restraint to not do that. It was clear that the boy was taking these revelations hard. If she pushed him too far, she might cause him to lash out at _her_ in a fit of unstable rage, like he was prone to do.

Nabiki's observations about Ryoga's mental state were pretty spot on. A large part of him was positively _**FURIOUS** _with his hated rival. Ranma didn't deserve all these jumps in strength and ability that he'd been getting handed to him on a silver platter! Ryoga had to constantly endure the elements, fight beasts and bandits, dodge irrational soldiers always attacking him for simple 'misunderstandings', traveling for days or weeks at a time in an endless forest or across scorching deserts. Ryoga deserved these powerups far more than _Ranma!_ Ranma, who was always lounging about in a nice and safe dojo, beating his fists against logs or breaking bricks, fighting against weaklings and morons, never having a single bad thing happen to him ever! Why did _he_ get privileged to have everything handed to him while Ryoga had to fight and scrape and claw for anything he wanted or needed?!

And now that he'd finally gotten a serious powerup, what did Ranma do? He ran away. This whole situation strongly reminded Ryoga of the last time Ranma had vanished on him, which resulted in the Saotome getting him cursed at Jusenkyo! Only this time, Ryoga couldn't just follow after the coward to demand a rematch. Ranma had run off with his tail between his legs to a whole other world rather than stand and face him, to take his beating like a man.

' _No, he's no MAN. He no longer deserves the HONOR of being considered a human being! He is just a self-centered thief and a coward who had ran off before I could visit the beating he so DEARLY needs!_ ' Now, Ryoga would never get the satisfaction he craved so deeply, to see Ranma beaten to bloody pulp, seeing that repulsive face get smashed around his fist, grinding his broken body into the dirt, where he belonged. No, he would never that satisfaction now. The coward had run off and was likely _never_ going to come back!

But, as much as Ryoga didn't want to admit it, there was also a very, _very_ small part of his mind that was sad. Sad at hearing that his best sparring partner and opponent, his only real…friend…was gone, probably to never return. Now, he no longer had anyone to strive for, no one to truly challenge and test himself against. Like Akane, this sense of loss and inability to admit such a thing even to himself only compounded his anger all the more. Because, as much as he hated and was jealous of Ranma, he _didn't_ want him to _leave!_

Perhaps the only thing he could be grateful towards Ranma for right now was the fact that he _didn't_ take Akane along with him. The one silver lining for Ryoga in this entire fiasco, but undoubtedly the single most important one.

* * *

 **March 21, Age 756**

All was tranquil and peaceful on the mountainside in the early morning light as the sun slowly rose above the horizon. The birds sang, the deer lounged in the shade of the forest, the giant fish of the river and lakes swam and jumped to their own delight, the tyrannosaurs stomped about as their hunted and scavenged for food, the monkeys hurled handfuls of their shit at a passing bear while giving chirping laughs at the angry ursine below, and large pterodactyls swooped down to snatch up frogs, squirrels, or fish.

All of the quiet mountain life was abruptly disturbed by the sudden onset of thunder as the skies suddenly darkened overhead. Then, in a flash of light, a trio of teenagers appeared overhead. Once the light of their arrival had faded, the darkened skies overhead vanished as quickly as they'd come, leaving the teenagers to gaze around themselves as best they could. The two girls were looking at everything everywhere they could, whereas the boy's gaze was directed down at the ground below them. Down there, a small cottage was nestled near the edge of a grassy cliff, which gave a truly splendid view of the jagged mountains and wilderness, a true picturesque snapshot of the beauty of nature.

"I can see why Grandpa Gohan made his house here," Ranma muttered, more to himself than the girls he was carrying. When he was younger, he hadn't really paid too much attention the landscape, didn't care to see the beauty of nature or feel the peacefulness that came with living so far away from the busy and noisy city. After living in and near such cities for several years now, as well as enduring the chaos that such places tended to make, Ranma could now much more fully enjoy and understand the elderly man's reasoning for settling down here. Smiling slightly in growing happiness, he said, "Yes, this is definitely a place to call home."

"It definitely is peaceful," Ukyo agreed, seeing much the same qualities as Ranma was.

"Reminds Shampoo of home too," Shampoo nodded, smiling sadly. The rugged and high mountains visible in the distance strongly reminded her of her own home back in China. Though familiar, it did create a strong ache of homesickness in the girl for a moment.

Dropping lightly down to the ground, Ranma released the girls and headed quickly towards the door of the cottage. "Goku?! Hey, aniki! You home, man?!" The door was open, but the lights were out. There was an aura of abandonment hanging over the cottage. Something that was rarely there whenever the monkey-tailed boy was home. "Huh, I guess he's not home yet."

"What is this place, Ranchan?" Ukyo asked as she and Shampoo joined Ranma in entering and exploring the small home.

"Goku's home," Ranma answered easily as he unshouldered his pack and set it next to the door, the girls following his example quickly afterwards. "But it looks like it hasn't been touched for a while. I wonder when in the timeline we appeared."

"That reminds me, Ranchan," the chef said, looking curiously over at Ranma from where she'd been investigating the small cooking area. "How much of the manga did you read? How much do you plan on…changing things? You do realize that by us being here, things are going to change after all."

"Honestly, I didn't really pay much attention at all to the manga," Ranma admitted as he dropped lightly onto a nearby chair, watching the girls as they started exploring the cottage, poking at things, opening cabinets, and what not. "Genma never really let me read manga before, for obvious reasons now." He glared darkly for a moment at the memories of Genma going out of his way to keep Ranma away from any type of manga, no matter if it was related to Dragonball or now. Shaking his thoughts clear, he continued speaking, "But I did do some light reading last night and this morning, not much though. I know about what happened immediately after I left here, I know the truth of Goku's origins, and I know only a little bit about what's going to happen in the coming few sagas of Dragonball. But I didn't really pay much attention and Genma jumped me before I could get very far into the storyline. And, honestly, I don't care if I end up changing the storyline. This is _my home_ now! Not some nerd's script for comic book! And I'll live it to the best of my ability! …What about you two? How much of the story do you know?"

"Not much, admittedly," Ukyo said, shrugging disinterestedly. "The most I know about it is that its about a monkey tailed kid going on adventures for seven wish-granting balls. It was a fighting manga, so I didn't read much of it."

"Let me guess," Ranma said, grinning knowingly at the quickly flustering girl. "You were only interested in manga with romance and drama, right?"

"Hey, I'm a _girl!_ " Ukyo barked back, trying to hide her red face. "Of course, I was, so sue me!"

"Shampoo no understand," Shampoo said quietly, looking curiously between them. "What you mean by manga?"

"Don't worry about it, Shampoo," Ranma said, smiling over at her in quiet consolation. "It doesn't matter anymore anyway."

Though looking somewhat unsure, she nodded. "What we do now? Where we be? What happen next?"

"We need a radio or newspaper or something," Ukyo suggested. "We need up-to-date information and I don't even see a television anywhere in here. Didn't Goku have one?"

"Nope!" Ranma chirped, smiling in reminisce. "He was a complete country bumpkin with no concept of electricity, television, cars, or _anything_ modern at all. So, don't bother trying to find any of that stuff. We'll have to go to a village nearby or something instead."

Ukyo had a look that strongly reminded Ranma of Bulma's when she learned of just how rustic Goku's lifestyle had been. Shock, disgust, and incomprehension all fighting for dominance in her expression. Shampoo just shrugged, already quite familiar with such living conditions, having grown up in similar ones herself.

Standing up and dusting himself off, Ranma moved back to the door and collected his pack again. "Come on, girls. I think I remember where the nearest village to here is located."

* * *

"Well, here we are," Ranma announced as he led the two girls to the closest village he could remember, Aru Village. After just over four hours of running for the trio of dimensional travelers, they had come across the first village they'd seen yet. It just so happened to have been the very same village that he, Goku, and Bulma had met Oolong in. "Aru Village. And, boy, does it look the same as it did back then!"

"You make it sound like it's been decades since you were last here, Ranchan," Ukyo said in a teasing voice.

"It might as well have been," Ranma replied, sending Ukyo a partial smile.

"Aiyah," Shampoo said in a slightly disbelieving tone as she stared at the strange architecture, strangely-dressed people, strange humanoid beings, and just overall _strangeness_ that was littered about the village. "This place too-too- _too_ strange! Are _all_ towns like this, Airen?"

"Thankfully no," Ranma shared, grinning at her wide-eyed expression. He could easily see a 9-year-old version of himself wearing that exact same expression as he came upon the first real sign of civilization he'd yet seen in this fantastical new world he was in. Briefly, memories of his first experience entering this town with Goku and Bulma filled his head. He'd made almost as much of a fool of himself as Goku so innocently did, but for different reasons. Thankfully, much like their reactions to Goku, the villagers had been quite a bit more understanding of his ignorance than most city-dwellers would've been. "Admittedly, this is one of the stranger villages, but they're still very nice people. Please don't try to start any fights with them."

"Sure thing, Ranchan," Ukyo agreed easily, with Shampoo muttering quietly to herself again but also sending an agreeing nod as well.

Approaching a familiar house, Ranma knocked on the door. "One moment!" a voice answered from inside. A familiar face answered the door, aged a few years since she was now in her mid-teenage years, but still quite recognizable to Ranma. While her dress was different, Pocawatha still wore the same headband and eagle feather, her dark hair now pulled back into a single ponytail and her dark eyes looking questioningly between the three people standing outside her family's door. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"I hope so," Ranma said, smiling easily to the girl. "I know it's only been a few years, but I've been kinda outta the loop and was hoping a few familiar faces could help me get caught up on recent events."

Pocawatha blinked, focusing her attention on the rather handsome young man in front of her. He looked familiar, his face tickling her memory, but was unable to figure out why. Cheeks flushing slightly, she hesitantly asked, "I'm sorry. But…do I know you?" Catching movement past the boy, she saw both girls standing to either side of him shooting her warning glares, seemingly looming over the boy's shoulder in a rather blatant ' _Back off! He's mine!_ ' type of stance.

"You've really forgotten me already?" Ranma asked, an almost shocked look crossing his face but it was ruined by the teasing glint in his eyes. Holding his hand to his chest, as though grasping from a particularly painful blow, he moaned out, "And after all that my brother and I did for you and the village several years ago and you've already forgotten us? That _hurts_ , Pocawatha-san. That _really_ hurts deep."

It took only a few moments before the girl put together what he was hinting at, causing her to gasp in shock as she recoiled in surprise. Eyes widening in recognition as she raised her hands to her face, Pocawatha cried out, "Oh, Kami! Ranma?! Is that you?! You're back!"

"Hey, Pocawatha!" Ranma greeted, grinning back at her while waving his hand idly.

"Ranma! I can't believe it's really you!" the girl gushed, her smile widening drastically as she lunged forward and engulfed him in a hug. As she was doing so, she kept babbling out, "It's been too long, Ranma! Wow, you've really grown up! Last time I saw you, you were in a dress running away from Oolong and calling out for Goku to come save you!"

"You just had to bring that up, didn't you?" Ranma couldn't help grumbling, though his smile still remained on his face as he remembered that highly embarrassing memory. At the time, he'd been so mortified by Bulma forcing him into a dress. But now, after maturing a great deal and having worn multiple dresses since getting his curse, he could look back on that memory with a small embarrassed grin on his face.

"Ranma! Come in, come in!" Pocawatha said, smiling widely as she grabbed his hand and pulled him inside forcefully, Shampoo and Ukyo hurrying in after him. "Dad! Daddy! Look who's here!"

"Who is it?" the man asked as he entered the living room from where he'd been in the kitchen making lunch. One glance at the dark-haired boy accompanying his daughter caused the old balding man to recoil in surprise. "Oh my goodness! Ranma?! You're back?!"

"Hey, old man!" Ranma greeted, holding up his hand with a smile on his face. "It's been a while."

"Indeed it has!" Sherman Priest agreed, walking forward and grasping Ranma's hand to shake. "So, what brings you back to our humble little village?"

"Ah, I got lost," Ranma admitted, rubbing his head in a sheepish gesture, his smile becoming far more embarrassed. "I got separated from Goku a few years ago. My _stupid_ old man found me and dragged me home."

"I take it you didn't want to go then?" Sherman guessed, not failing to notice how much venom was in the boy's voice as he spoke of his father. He quickly gestured for the newcomers to take seats on the various chairs and sofa in the room, which they gratefully did. They'd been running at a pretty brisk pace all morning and were rather tired. Turning to his daughter, he said, "Pocawatha, can you go get our guests some food? They look a bit hungry."

Though disappointed, the girl nodded in compliance and shuffled off into the kitchen. Turning back to Ranma, Sherman continued his original train of thought easily. "That's quite surprising. If I remember right, you had been quite desperate to get back to him and go home. Did something happen to change your mind?"

"Yeah," Ranma nodded, his smile becoming more natural and warmer again. "His name was Goku."

"I see," Sherman said nodding with a slight smile of his own. Then he looked pointedly away from Ranma towards the two beauties that had followed the boy inside. "And who are these two lovely ladies?"

"These are Shampoo the Amazon and Kuonji Ukyo," Ranma said, indicating both girls in turn from where they'd taken up seats on either side of him. "They're friends who wanted to come with me when I decided to rejoin Goku here."

"Ranchan," Ukyo said quietly, earning the boy's attention. His smile faded as he saw the solemn look on her face. "I'm just Ukyo now, not a Kuonji anymore. Otousan was…upset when I told him about all of this."

" _What?!_ " Ranma hissed, his anger and disappointment almost causing him to yell out, only just managing to restrain himself from doing so. " _Why?!_ Didn't he understand what—?"

"I explained the situation _quite clearly_ , Ranchan," Ukyo interrupted, wanting to end the subject quickly and not wanting to endure anyone's pity for her loss. "When he found out I might not be returning…I think he was disappointed he'd never get the son or grandson he'd always wanted and he just…lashed out, I guess."

"Well, if that's the case, I say you're better off without him, my dear," Sherman stated before anyone else could speak up. Seeing Ukyo's surprised and somewhat hurt gaze, he nodded quite decisively and firmly. "People like that, who are so willing to discard those who don't conform their wishes, aren't worth the time needed to mourn them. I've only just met you and I can tell you are an exceptional young woman. Ranma is quite fortunate to have friends such as you at his side! Both of you!"

Ukyo couldn't help flushing at the old man's praise. Glancing to her side, she saw that Shampoo also had a small blush of her own decorating her face. Shaking her head, she quickly asked, "Um, can you tell us anything that's been happening lately? Any big events we should know about?"

"Ah, that depends," Sherman stated. "What are you interested in knowing? And why are you asking?"

"We come from…a pretty isolated village farther up the mountains," Ranma explained, thinking quickly. "So, we're usually very cut off from the rest of the world. Heck, my house doesn't even have _electricity!_ So, we're quite starved for anything you can tell us. The last major event that I know of was the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. My old man…er, _picked me up_ after I finished my last match in it and quickly brought me back here. So, I don't know anything that's been happening since that time."

"The 22nd tournament, huh?" Sherman said, glancing up as Pocawatha returned. In her arms were several plates filled with some basic sandwiches and slices of carrots and applesauce. Helping his daughter with passing the food around, Sherman continued speaking, "Hm…were you present for the whole disaster that followed? I remember hearing about some monsters attacking the tournament participants and killing them. This disaster was followed by Demon King Piccolo's return. He destroyed several cities, killed tens of thousands of people, and almost conquered the world when he captured the King."

"I think I remember hearing about something like that, yeah," Ranma said, gaining a very carefully crafted face of contemplation. Doing his level best to make his recent reading of that manga arc seem more like a distant memory. "But I only heard a couple of rumors and news reports before I got back home. Something about a green man showing up?"

"Yes, that'd be King Piccolo," Sherman stated, nodding with a deep frown on his face.

"What happened to him?" Ukyo asked, forcing herself to eat her small meal slowly. It was good manners after all, no matter just how starved she was. "He didn't win, did he?"

"Nope!" Pocawatha chirped up, taking a seat next to her father. "Piccolo got beat before he could!"

"What? How?" Shampoo asked, staring at the small family curiously. "Who stop him?"

"Nobody knows for sure who," Sherman said slowly. "But there were rumors, and a few grainy security videos released to the press shortly after it happened, that showed a young warrior fighting against and killing the Demon King before suddenly running off with his companions. Nobody knows who they were, not even King Furry."

"It was Goku," Ranma stated bluntly. Everyone looked at him questioningly, but he just smiled and nodded his head knowingly as he put down his empty plate on the small table. "An unstoppable Demon King who was terrorizing the world, destroying cities and killing people? Yeah, that'd be the kind of chaos that Goku would throw himself into with a wide smile and come out begging for more!"

"…You must be _so jealous_ , Ranchan," Ukyo said, a teasing grin on her face.

Ranma's smile immediately faded into a prominent pout as he clenched his fists in a blatant show of said jealousy. " _I wish I COULD'VE **BEEN THERE!**_ "

Everyone chuckled at Ranma's jealous yell. Shampoo reached over and patted Ranma on the shoulder in a reassuring manner as she said, "You here _now_ , Airen. Now you get stuck in _all_ fights again."

Ranma smiled wanly at that as he glanced at the girl before nodding. Looking back at Sherman, he asked, "So, is there anything big going on or something new about to happen soon?"

"Well, there is one _minor_ thing you might be interested in, Ranma," Sherman stated, identical knowing grins spreading over his and Pocawatha's faces. "The 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament is coming up in about…two months' time?"

" _Say WHAT?!_ " Ranma yelped, shooting to his feet immediately, eyes wide with excitement. " _Ah, I gotta get going! NO WAY am I gonna miss THAT!_ "

"Wait! Ranchan!" Ukyo cried out, her and Shampoo both hurriedly reaching out and grabbing ahold of the boy to stop him from rushing out of the door. "Do you even know how to get there from here?!"

" _Of course, I_ —ah, maybe could?" Ranma started before immediately floundering as he realized the obvious. Sherman and Pocawatha both laughed heartily at Ranma as he allowed the two girls to pull him back down into the chair. "Okay, fine. I don't know how to get there from here. But all I'll need is a map!"

"And what of us, Airen?" Shampoo asked, a hint of warning in her voice and face, eyebrow arching.

"Yeah, Ranchan!" Ukyo agreed, nodding towards Shampoo. "What do you expect us to do? Wait back at Goku's house for you to come back for us?"

"Shampoo no waiting!" Shampoo immediately barked out. "This a fighting tournament? Shampoo want enter too! It could be fun!"

"And tournaments attract a lot of crowds," Ukyo stated, a growing grin on her face. "And where there's a crowd, I can make some money by selling some okonomiyaki!"

"Oh, that right! We need money too," Shampoo said, a dawning look of realization and contemplation crossing onto her face. "…Maybe Shampoo should help spatula-girl instead? Help make more money that way?"

"Oh no!" Ukyo immediately countered. "I work best _by myself!_ Besides, I doubt a _waitress_ like you could keep up with the pace I usually work at anyway."

"Shampoo no just _waitress!_ " Shampoo shot back, glaring hotly at Ukyo for the insult. "Shampoo also can cook _much more_ than just _ONE_ dish!"

"Is that a challenge, ya hussy?!" Ukyo demanded, leaning forward to glare menacingly at the Amazon. "You think you can make more money than me?!"

"No, it fact!" Shampoo stated, leaning forward herself to glare condescendingly at her chief rival. If one looked closely enough, they'd easily be able to see a violent clash of lightning and auras building up between the two.

"See what I have to put up with on a daily basis?" Ranma quietly asked from the side, having escaped his close proximity from the two the moment they started concentrating on each other.

"Oh my goodness," Sherman said, glancing between the two in surprise. Where had all of this hostility and rivalry come from so quickly? "They are always like this? You must have some very… _interesting_ times together."

"That's one way of putting it," Ranma groaned out.

"Jeez, they're like a couple of cats fighting over the last scrap of food!" Pocawatha said, exasperation and annoyance in her voice. "How do you put up with them, Ranma?"

"Very carefully," Ranma replied. Seeing that the two girls were moments away from coming to blows, he quickly stepped forward and forcefully separated the pair. "That's enough, girls! Remember, this isn't our home! You can't just wantonly destroy things anymore!"

Both girls blinked, coming forcefully out of their tunnel vision, and looking around for a moment before realizing what Ranma had said was true. Though still shooting glares at one another, both of them nodded to him as they began to power down. Looking back up at Ranma, Ukyo said, "But this still begs the question, Ranma. How are we going to get to where this tournament taking place? Do you even know _where_ it's happening?"

"The World Martial Arts Tournament is traditionally held on Papaya Island, down in the south," Ranma stated with quiet certainty. "So, we've got quite a hike and swim ahead of us."

"Swim?!" everyone, even the Nerimans, echoed with looks of disbelief on their faces.

"Yeah, swim," Ranma said, looking at everyone with slight confusion. "It wouldn't be the first time I swam there. At the last tournament, I made the swim all the way from Yahhoi in less than two weeks. I'm sure I can make it again from here and in even less time!" Looking at Shampoo and Ukyo's disgruntled expressions, he asked, "What's wrong?"

" _I'M_ _ **NOT**_ _SWIMMING ACROSS THE_ _ **OCEAN**_ _, RANCHAN!_ " Ukyo yelled out in exasperation. "Unlike _you_ , I don't have that kind of endurance!"

"And Airen forget about Shampoo's curse?" Shampoo asked, cocking her brow inquisitively. But then, a somewhat impish smile spread across her face. "But maybe you can _carry_ Shampoo along?"

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Shampoo! Or did _you_ forget about Ranchan's 'little problem' with your curse?" Ukyo barked with heavy annoyance (and a slight amount of jealousy). Turning back to Ranma, she said, "So, since you're not going anywhere without _us_ , what's Plan B?"

"Uhhhh…." was all Ranma could utter, having honestly not thought of this little complication with the girls wanting to accompany him but _not_ wanting to swim there.

"I think I can offer you some assistance," Sherman suddenly spoke up, earning the trio's attentions. Climbing to his feet, he moved over to a desk and started shuffling through its contents for a moment before turning back and tossing Ranma a small yellow capsule. "It's my boat. I usually use it for fishing. This way the girls can rest and you could even train yourself by dragging it along while you swim there."

The look on Ranma's face was one of surprised delight. "I—ah—Okay, thank you!"

"Think nothing of it, Ranma," Sherman said as he and Pocawatha smiled. "It's the least we can do for one of the heroes of the village."

* * *

( **Author's Note** ) To answer the question that I'm sure many of you are going to ask: No, Ranma has not told _**ANYONE**_ , not even Goku, that he's from a different dimension. Even at the tender age of 9, he was smart enough to know most people wouldn't believe him or think he was crazy or something such. The most the DBZ-cast know of Ranma's past is that he was raised on the road with his glutton thief of a father before being subjected to the Nekoken training and promptly running away, only to bump into Goku and join him on his many adventures. The only person in DBZ who knows the truth of Ranma's origins is Kami, since he sensed the boy's arrival. The reason Kami hasn't told Goku about this is because he believes it's Ranma's story to tell.

Speaking of the Nekoken, in case no one's noticed it, Ranma was able to overcome his phobia thanks in large part to Roshi. Sure, Roshi may not be a psychological expert, but he's also not stupid enough to take Genma's patented approach of 'ignore it and hope it never shows up again' when dealing with not easily solved problems. During his year-long training with Goku and Krillin, Ranma also had to semi-regular trips to see a psychiatrist and they were able to get to the root of his trauma and helped him put it behind him.

Now, rather than being crippled in terror when in the presence of a cat, he merely has a potent but understandable dislike of them. ' _And how does this affect the Nekoken?_ ' I hear you ask. Simple: he no longer has access to his Nekoken 'form' anymore. After all, it takes overwhelming terror of cats to cause the user/victim to relinquish control over to their inner cat in order to utilize the technique. Since he no longer fears cats like some kind of demonic monsters, he cannot and will never again be able to submit to his inner cat. Thus, neutralizing the Nekoken completely.

 **Power Levels** :

Cologne ( **age…unknown** ): 380  
Happosai ( **age…unknown** ): 330  
Ranma ( **age 16** ): 250  
Genma ( **age 41** ): 110, (badly injured) 5  
Ryoga ( **age 16** ): 95  
Soun ( **age 41** ): 90, (Battle Aura) 135  
Shampoo ( **age 16** ): 90  
Ukyo ( **age 16** ): 85  
Mousse ( **age 16** ): 70  
Akane ( **age 16** ): 60  
Kodachi Kuno ( **age 16** ): 55  
Tatewaki Kuno ( **age 17** ): 40, (injured) 15  
Kasumi ( **age 19** ): 5  
Nabiki ( **age 17** ): 5


	6. A Wild Horse Runs Amok

**.**

 **Son Ranma  
** By: Tellemicus Sundance  
Co-Authored by: Fiori75  
 _#06: A Wild Horse Runs Amok_

 **April 2, Age 756**

It was a literal downpour as a busty and drenched redhead waded ashore. Dressed in a plain blue one-piece swimsuit, Ranma shrugged off the thick ropes that were tied around her torso. Once they were loosened and fell free of her shapely body, she grabbed them and started pulling the simple boat they were tied to further ashore. The boat was a small thing, just large enough to comfortably seat four passengers with a small cabin in the center where the boats helm was located. The cabin was merely a rain guard for the driver to steer the boat from relative comfort during a rainstorm, not meant for sleeping or dining or anything else.

After dragging the boat out of the water, the girl turned and waited for her friends to disembark. Ukyo leapt ashore, carrying Shampoo's cat form and clothes in her arms, before hurriedly opening an umbrella to cover her from the rain. All of the girls on the beach were more than happy to finally be back on even partially dry land. Ranma had been dragging that boat behind her in the ocean for the better part of ten days now as she swam for the island they now stood on. And while it had been a great exercise in endurance and strength training, lugging such a deadweight for so long was exhausting! On the other hand, Ukyo and Shampoo were ecstatic to finally be able to move about freely again, rather than being confined to such a tiny vessel.

"It seems you two managed to bring the whole 'water magnet' thing along with you for the ride, Ranchan, Shampoo," Ukyo said, heavy annoyance in her voice as she watched Ranma return the boat to capsule form. "I don't think I've ever been so drenched in my whole life!" Shampoo made a piteous yowl in response to that.

Ranma just shot the two a bland look. "It's not that bad out here, you two. Stop being such drama queens." Glancing up at the sky, she smiled as she saw the dark storm clouds starting to lighten up on the horizon. "Besides, the storm's gonna end soon. So, no point in complaining about it."

Looking towards the horizon herself, Ukyo sighed before nodding, "Oh, fine…"

"Well, follow me! I know where to go from here!" the bright smile on Ranma's face could've easily been mistaken for the sun coming out for how blindingly happy it was.

"Unless you wanna go walking through town in your swimsuit," Ukyo pointed out, giggling slightly as she saw just how incredibly happy and excited her fiancé was. On her shoulder, Shampoo was purring quietly, no doubt agreeing with her sentiment. "Maybe you should get dressed first, Ranchan."

"Uh – Oh! Ah, yeah, right! Better do that first!" Ranma said, hurriedly looking around for a place to change. Since they were on a public beach, there were several changing rooms and small restaurant stands nearby, so she wasn't lacking for places to hide. Finding one to her liking, Ranma ran off quickly, with Ukyo and Shampoo following at a more sedate pace. Normally, Shampoo would've happily accompanied Ranma, but with the rain still falling, she couldn't safely change forms for a while.

Even though they'd been here for more than two weeks already, Ukyo could honestly say that she'd never seen Ranma be so consistently happy about anything before. It was an incredibly uplifting feeling, seeing how happy he had become. She knew that he'd never been truly happy in Nerima, what with the various engagements, the fathers, and drama always hanging over his head like a guillotine blade waiting to drop.

After just a few minutes, a fully dressed Ranma-chan returned and beckoned the girls to follow. "If I remember right, the tournament grounds are this way. I think there's enough space outside the temple entrance that you two could set up your food stands too."

"That sounds great, Ranchan," Ukyo said hurrying after Ranma. Glancing over at the cat on her shoulder, Ukyo couldn't help quietly muttering, "We'll finally see who's the better chef, Ms. Amazon."

Shampoo sent her an annoyed growl while subtly flexing her claws, digging them into Ukyo's kimono and flicking her skin. Not enough to cause bleeding or pain, but enough to let her know the potential danger of angering her further. Feeling the claws poke into her shoulder slightly, Ukyo shot the cat an annoyed glare of her own. Then she hoisted Shampoo off her shoulder and tossed her ahead while calling out, "Ranchan! Can you hold this for a while?"

It might've been unfair, potentially problematic, and poorly thought out, but Ukyo had hoped to teach Shampoo a lesson about scratching her by making her feel bad about scaring Ranchan again. But to Ukyo's surprise, and Shampoo's great delight, that didn't happen when Ranma turned and caught the flung cat easily. After a second of staring at a blinking and somewhat resigned cat, Ranma then shrugged and placed her up on her shoulder. Ukyo couldn't help gawking for a long moment while Shampoo let out a happy mewl and started purring quite loudly in happy contentment.

"Hurry up, Ucchan!" Ranma called back. "The sooner we set up the stalls, the sooner we can get out of this rain!"

"Wait, Ranchan!" Ukyo called out, shaking out of her confusion and running after him. "Wait up! What happened? I thought you were terrified of cats!"

"Yeah, I was, but not anymore," Ranma answered negligently, which only further confused and frustrated Ukyo at not getting an adequate explanation. "I'll tell ya about it later. Now, come on!"

* * *

 **May 7, Age 756**

It was pouring rain outside again, the eighth rainstorm in five days' time. But the weather forecast said that once it cleared up, this would the last of it for a while. That was a very thankful bit of news for the group of people who were clustered around the pair of food stands that had been set up just outside the temple entrance. Though one stand only technically sold one dish, there was such a vast array of choices available for toppings that no one really complained about the menu. The other stand sold mostly ramen, but also other exotic food dishes. The delicious smells of the food cooking were so enticing that it drew in a crowd quite easily. Although, there was a noticeably larger amount of men and teenagers hanging around the stands. A given because of the two beauties who were manning them that they were all trying to flirt with.

Bulma only gave them a cursory glance. The girls were in their mid-teens and were admittedly quite attractive. But where the men were practically drooling over watching their bodies as they worked, Bulma couldn't help giggling slightly as she watched the two interact with each other. It was pretty obvious that they were rivals and were competing against each other to see who could pull in the largest crowd. They were having some type of ongoing comedy show, trading verbal barbs while showing off rather remarkable cooking tricks and food handling maneuvers that looked almost like a martial arts kata. At the moment, it seemed that the purple-haired girl was winning by a slight margin, but not for lack of trying on the other girl's part.

"Gheheheheheh!" a familiar cackle sounded from nearby, reminding Bulma of her unfortunate companions' presences. "Would you look at those two go!"

"Oooh! Yeah," Oolong agreed, a similar look of dopey lust etched onto his face. "I wonder how long it'll take them to just throw aside the stands and jump at each other!"

"Ghehehehe!" Roshi cackled again. "And in the _rain_ too! What a _delight_ it'd be! A _muddy catfight_ between two hot ba— _gahh! Ow!_ What'd you hit me for, Bulma?!"

"And me!" Oolong snapped, rubbing his aching head along with the venerable master next to him.

"To get your minds out of the gutter, old man, filthy pig!" Bulma snapped, glaring heatedly down at them.

"Oh, don't worry about them, Bulma," the blue-haired Launch said, smiling sweetly. "They're harmless. Besides, they are right. Those two _do_ look like they're about ready to break out into a fight soon."

"Hello!" a loud and unfamiliar voice called out from nearby. Turning, the group spotted a tall man wearing a turban over his hair and dressed in a blue robe and yellow pants. He was smiling widely from under his own umbrella as he approached them. "Master Roshi! I'm glad you're ok!"

"One of your friends?" Roshi asked Bulma as he gestured towards the stranger.

"No," Bulma admitted, staring at the stranger with wide eyes.

"Hey, where are Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Ranma?" the person asked as he looked among their group with something approaching disappointment on his face. "Already inside maybe? Or…" But the stranger noticed the red sheen on Bulma's lips and he leaned in closer while pointing at it worriedly. "Hey, Bulma, are you okay?! You're lips are red! You're not bleeding, are you?!"

"It's lipstick, you numbskull!" Bulma yelled back reflexively.

It was only after she'd done that that she and everyone else suddenly started realizing just who this person before them was. The reactions of the group were unanimous: surprised shock. "G-G-GOKU?!"

At first, the stranger didn't quite notice their confusion. His attention had been momentarily attracted to something off to the side. There had been a flash of red and an aura that seemed somehow familiar, which seemed to have ducked behind one of the two stands to the side. And now that he was looking in that direction, Goku was momentarily struck as he watched the two girls' movements. Those movements were too controlled, too precise. The speed, fluidity, and grace that they were moving at was astonishing. He could easily sense that both of them were trained fighters. And yet, it looked like one of them was being extra careful in her movements, doing her damnedest to stay away from the rainwater as she could and that struck him as quite odd. But before he could go and investigate, his attention was again caught by Bulma as she walked up to him, staring up at him in shock. "No way! Are you really Goku?!"

"Yeah, of course it's me," Goku answered, his own confusion starting to bleed through as he reached up to rub the back of his head. In doing so, his hand came into contact with the turban he was still wearing after his training with Mr. Popo. Wearing it had become a bit of habit to him at this point. But now that his attention was directed to it, a smile of understanding crawled across his face as he realized why his friends couldn't seem to recognize him. "Oh, maybe it's because of this thing? Here, I'll take it off."

All four of them gawked in disbelief at seeing him once the turban was unrolled and discarded. They were having a hard time reconciling this tall, muscular, and quite handsome young man with the short but burly kid he had been three years ago. Especially Bulma, who's cheeks were a prominent red as she stared at the man her young friend had become.

"Hey guys!" a familiar voice called out. Everyone turned to look towards the voice. It was a familiar group that stood before them, consisting of Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Krillin. "We bumped into each other at the door."

Krillin approached Master Roshi with a grin on his face while awkwardly scratching the back of his head. Look, master, I'm taller now!"

Goku approached Krillin with a smile and put a hand on his shoulder saying, "You're Krillin, right? I'm glad you're alright." Looking around the other newcomers, he smiled and said, "Looks like we're almost all here. Just need Ranma to show up."

"Wait," Krillin said. "You're Goku?" Before Goku could respond, Krillin threw himself into his best friend's chest hug him tightly. "Goku, I missed you!"

Tien and Yamcha stared in surprise at that all men that stood before them "That's…That's Goku?" Yamcha stuttered.

"Seems so," Tien said, equally surprised.

After Krillin had gotten control of himself, Goku pushed him gently off of him somewhat as he looked around again searching for a familiar face. "I wonder where Ranma is?"

" _Your attention, please_ ," a loud voice over a loudspeaker's called out. " _All fighters who are entering the tournament, please enter the stadium. The elimination rounds will start in a few minutes._ "

The fighters of the group, consisting of Yamcha, Goku, Krillin, Tien, and Chiaotzu, all followed the directions of the declaration and worked their way inside. Unnoticed by the rest of the group as they headed their way inside, a pretty red headed girl slowly followed after them through the doorway.

The only person who noticed the girl briefly was Bulma, but she was still far too enamored by the handsome young man she'd just seen to really pay much attention to the redhead. "To think Goku was only a little boy. He's really not so bad looking now!"

"Big pervert," Oolong muttered, looking at Bulma with disgust as he followed Bulma, Master Roshi, and Puar towards the stands. Behind them, the two girls selling food at the food stands hurriedly packed up their supplies. They were determined to watch the tournament as well.

* * *

Ranma had arrived only partway through the reintroductions of the group of her old friends. But rather than approach them immediately, she held back. An irrationally fear had suddenly sprung up in as she watched a scene very similar to the one she'd read about in the manga play out. What if, somehow, this group wasn't the same group as the one she was familiar with? What if these people, who looked so familiar and friendly, were actually total strangers who'd never met or even heard of Ranma before?

This unexpected fear had sprung up and gripped Ranma tightly in its clutches, causing her to reflexively hide among the group surrounding Ukyo's stand while watching them interact. Though she was hopeful, she had to know for sure that they were indeed her friends. So, it came as an indescribable relief when she had heard Goku asking about her and looking around for the boy he wished to see there.

Now that her fears were relieved, Ranma was smiling happily. But she still didn't approach the group. This was due to her getting a very interesting and potentially fun idea. ' _If Master Roshi can hide his identity, why can't I?_ '

So now Ranma, dressed in a light blue version of her usual Chinese-styled silk shirts, dark pants, and kung fu shoes, was standing next to the wall watching the group as they continued to interact. She couldn't help but smirk and laugh as Chichi introduced herself to Goku. Ranma found it kind of amusing seeing an angry girl mad at someone _else_ besides herself for a change. Although, Ranma couldn't blame Goku for not recognizing her. Chichi looked very, _very_ different when compared to when they were younger.

Still grinning, Ranma slowly walked over to Chichi. "Hey, don't take it seriously. Goku's got a bad memory at the best of times."

Chichi glared at Ranma angrily. "Who are you? And how do you know why I'm angry at him?!"

Ranma grinned. "My name is Ranko and let's just say I have history with Son Goku as well."

Just then a loud voice came over the loud speakers again, "We thank you for entering the 23rd Budokai Tournament! Since the last tournament reach such a high level of power, only 74 contestants have entered this year. Nonetheless, every fighter is an expert in martial arts. Respect all the rules and try your hardest. Good luck to all!"

* * *

"Hi-yah!" Ranma grunted as she drove her foot into her opponent's abdomen and sent him flying.

"Hahaha, that was a splendid kick!" Her opponent said with a grin as he recovered, quickly jumping back to his feet. Ranma just glared at the man with annoyance. She recognized who this man was, she'd seen him while reading the manga. It was Kami, or at least the man Kami was possessing. That meant this man, despite his common look, was much more formidable and powerful than he should have been. "I am impressed that you have been able to fight me so well and for so long. But it is time to end this fight. I have unfinished business to attend to."

"If you think I'm going to roll over and let you beat me," Ranma snarled back angrily. "Then you are sadly mistaken! I'm gonna win this fight and keep going to win this tournament!"

"Well, you're certainly a feisty young lady. Don't you know fighting is a man's job?" Hero asked, grinning somewhat smugly at Ranma.

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," Ranma countered. "I honestly don't care either way. So, if you're trying to get me angry, you are going to be badly disappointed. Getting opponents angry is _my_ trick, not yours."

With that said, Ranma launched herself forward again. This time she attacked with a lightning fast barrage of punches. Hero staggered backwards with his hands flailing about as he tried and mostly failed to block the incoming punches. More punches began slipping through Hero's defenses. The man started staggering backwards, ever closer to the edge of the ring. Just as she was about to lunge forward to deliver the finishing blow, Ranma saw Hero grin subtly. Realizing what the man's plan likely was, Ranma immediately changed gears, dodging to the side a split second before she otherwise would've lunged forward. Without missing a beat, she'd jumped forward from her new angle with a kick. Hero was caught completely by surprise, as he had been expecting Ranma to launch straight forward with a punch instead. Thus, his stance was out of position with him only just barely being able to raise his arms in a feeble defense as the kick landed squarely in Hero's side. Due to his surprise, lack of response, and suppressed power, that kick was more than strong enough to lift Hero off the ground and send him flying over to the side and right over the far edge of the ring. Before Hero could even try to use his ki to fly and recover, Ranma launched herself forward again with her both arms up to deliver a double hammerblow straight to the back of Hero's torso. The blow landed quite decisively, sending him crashing to the ground well outside the ring. Using the impetuous of her strike, Ranma was able to backflip gracefully back onto the fighting ring, landing in a reflexive ready stance.

"Ring out!" the judge of the match declared. "Contestant #73 qualifies for the Finals!"

Ranma just smiled as she watched the expressions play across Hero's face momentarily. For a long moment, the man just stared at the young woman with a look of honest surprise that he'd lost. But then his face darkened slightly as an angry grimace flashed across his expression while he glared down at the ground in silent contemplation as he picked himself up onto his feet. But, regardless of what his inner thoughts were, when he looked back up at Ranma again, he did so with a bright smile as he said, "That was very well done! A most magnificent fight, my young friend! I hope to speak with you again soon."

Ranma nodded seriously at the man. Using the elevated height of the ring, she turned her gaze around the room real quick. Off to one side, she could easily see Goku idly pushing his opponent off the ring, Yamcha was standing next to his ring while he waited for his turn, Tien kneeing a man in the gut, and Piccolo hoisting a man up by the throat and waiting for him to beg for surrender.

Just as she was turning to walk off the ring, a familiar voice cried out and caught Ranma's attention. Looking towards the voice, she spotted a surprising sight of Shampoo squaring off against Chichi. Shampoo was attacking, her arms flashing forward at Amaguriken speeds. Even though Chichi wasn't able to block any of the jabs or punches, she was able to absorb the comparatively weak blows to her torso without too much difficulty. Ignoring the weak punches that were peppering her stomach, Chichi launched her own powerful punch in an effort to break Shampoo's momentum. It worked; her much slower punch hit Shampoo straight in the gut, sending the girl flying through the air. To Shampoo's credit, she was able to land and stay on her feet, managing to halt her slide across the ring just in time to stop from falling out of bounds.

' _Now that's something I didn't expect to see!_ ' Ranma thought in surprise as she hurried off her ring and over to watch the fight unfold. ' _It's like watching one of my matches against Ryoga! Shampoo's all speed and agility whereas Chichi's got raw strength and power. There's no way Shampoo can take another punch like that, but Chichi's probably going to have a hard time catching her. If she wants to win, Shampoo needs to focus on strategy rather than trying to overpower her_.'

Both fighters apparently figured that out for themselves as well. Chichi rushed forward on the attack, trying to pin Shampoo along the edge and corner her. As she drew near, Shampoo somersaulted high into the air up and over Chichi. With an unexpected daintiness, Chichi slid to a halt and leapt up after Shampoo. Ranma couldn't help sighing in disappointment as she saw the fight take to the air. To the untrained, aerial combat was very much a contest of brute force since most fighters couldn't control their flight once they were off the ground. It was a setting that strongly favored Chichi over Shampoo, given the disparity in their physical strength.

But Ranma was quite surprised when, despite being unable to dodge and not knowing how to fly, Shampoo began to utilize a very basic ability of a practitioner of the Saotome Aerial Style of Musabetsu Kakutō Ryu by pushing herself off of Chichi's attacking fist and smoothly transitioning into a spinning kick. ' _She must've figured that out from watching me fight all the time!_ ' However, Shampoo's inexperience with the primary ability to convert an opponent's own strength into a defiance of gravity forced Shampoo back to the ground where she had to confront Chichi dead-on again. Once again using the Amaguriken, Shampoo blasted Chichi with hundreds of machine-gun-fast punches. But, again, Chichi just powered through it. When Shampoo was forced to ease up on her onslaught due to wearing her arms out, Chichi spun around and sent a powerful kick towards the younger teen's stomach.

Rather than block or tank it, Shampoo jumped slightly into the air as she caught the attacking leg and spun with it as the two of them dropped back towards the ground below. She hoisted Chichi up and over her shoulder, before trying to slam her mightily into the ring floor. However, Chichi was able to catch herself by flinging her hands over her head and using her powerful arm muscles to negate the body slam. Still bracing herself, Chichi lashed out with her free leg to kick Shampoo squarely in the face. The Amazon was forced to release her opponent as she was flung away, a stream of blood flying out of her broken nose. Before Shampoo could properly recover herself, using just her arm muscles, Chichi launched herself into a powerful doublekick straight into the girl's stomach. The blow knocked the wind from Shampoo's lungs while also sending her bouncing across the ring floor in a haphazard fashion before tipping and falling off the side ungracefully.

"Ring out!" that announcer declared decisively. "Contestant #59 qualifies for the Finals!"

"Shampoo!" Ranma couldn't help uttering while rushing through the crowd towards her friend. She didn't pay any attention to anyone else as she reached Shampoo and gently helped her to her feet. "You okay, Shampoo? And what are you doing here? I thought you wanted to watch the tournament with Ucchan."

"Shampoo also…warrior, Airen," Shampoo grunted out around panting and gasping around her injuries, glaring very slightly at Ranma for a moment. "She also a…proud fighter too! Shampoo wanted…to fight too!" Looking back towards where Chichi was now marching through the crowd with an angry expression, the girl muttered quietly, "She too-too lucky we not in _China_ anymore!"

Upon hearing that angry mutter show, Ranma set her hand on Shampoo's shoulder and gave her a very stern look, causing the Amazon to freeze up slightly in surprise and confusion. Leaning in slightly, Ranma very quietly said, "No threatening my _future sister-in-law_ , Shampoo."

Shampoo blinked for a moment, just staring at Ranma as a number of expressions and feelings danced about her. Then realization dawned on what Ranma was hinting towards, causing her eyes to widen momentarily before turning a calculative glance towards where Chichi was brooding and glaring angrily at Goku. Seeing Chichi's expression, an impish smile spread across her lips as Shampoo turned back to Ranma, barely containing her giggles.

"Don't worry about losing, Shampoo," Ranma said as her own expression quickly softened and she returned to trying to be reassuring. "This tournament is held once every three years. I'm sure if you train really hard, you can get into the next one, no problem!"

Despite the prominent pout on her lips now at her being forced to wait for 'next time,' the girl's eyes lit up in happiness for reasons Ranma wasn't quite certain of. Nodding slightly, Shampoo suddenly leaned in and gave Ranma a quick peck on the cheek, smiling as Ranma's face predictably lit up red like her hair.

* * *

It was a little under an hour later. The qualification matches had long since concluded and the eight contestants had been set up in their respective matches. The matches seemed to be the same that Ranma remembered from the manga with Tien vs Taopaipai, Goku vs Chichi, Piccolo vs Krillin, and herself vs Yamcha. The contestants were all gathering in the waiting room now as the stands outside filled with the spectators. Behind and slightly to the side of where she was seated, Ranma could overhear her friends. They were discussing sensu beans, training at Korin's Tower, and their disappointment that 'little Ranma' hadn't shown up after all. Well, Yamcha _seemed_ to be. Krillin was insistent that their friend had probably just arrived too late to sign up and was watching from the stands. But Goku seemed rather ambivalent about Ranma missing, probably suspecting that Ranma was trying to pull a prank of some kind (which she was).

Feeling impetuous, Ranma leapt up and took a seat on the dividing wall that separated the tournament ring form the temple. Her appearance up there drew a fair number of glances from the crowd, namely the male half who sent lustful gazes or whistles her way. But Ranma ignored them as she searched the crowd for her fiancées. She could sense that they were present in the crowd, but it was difficult to tell where due to how densely packed the stands were. Eventually, she did find them in the far-right corner from where she was seated and gave them a small wave of greeting. Of course, given the number of people in that area, most of the guys in that area thought she was waving at them, which elicited an increased number of catcalls and whistles from them.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the blond announcer cried out over the microphone as he took his place in the center of the ring. "Welcome to the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament! Prepare yourselves! For the First Match will begin immediately! Contestant Taopaipai versus Contestant Tien Shinhan, the runner-up of the last tournament!"

' _Runner-up?!_ ' Ranma gawked in surprise, nearly falling from her perch as she stared down at Tien with open shock. ' _How did THAT happen?! Wasn't Tien supposed to WIN the last tournament against Goku?_ ' But then she paused and remembered her own intense battle against Tien three years ago and understanding suddenly dawned. ' _He must've still been somewhat worn out from his fight against me! And since Goku had been fighting at relatively top form, it would've made him beating Tien somewhat easy… **Oh boy** , I bet Goku was **NOT** happy about winning the tournament like that._'

The fight between the two Crane warriors was more or less as it had been shown in the manga. Tien was far stronger, faster, and smarter than the arrogant cyborg. And despite Taopaipai pulling out a few illegal surprises from his sleeves, Ranma was far from surprised when Tien won the fight quite handily. In fact, she was starting to wonder if this Tien was actually stronger than his manga counterpart. No doubt his loss to Goku and the rather embarrassingly tough match he had against the 13-year-old Ranma could've motivated him to train himself much harder as a result.

Goku's match against Chichi had never been in doubt. Despite the young woman's fury and exceptional strength and skills, Goku was simply so far beyond her that he basically danced around her throughout the whole fight. Although, Ranma did have to admit that watching Goku flounder in the air after Chichi leapt up after him to continue her relentless barrage was pretty funny! As was watching Goku's confusion over finding out what a 'wife' was. ' _It seems aniki borrowed some of my 'luck' with women!_ ' Ranma thought as she laughed quite loudly and heartily at the whole scene that was happening in front of her. ' _This is like a watered-down version of my life in Nerima! All Goku needs now is another fiancée or two to come and start demanding he has to marry them instead of Chichi!_ ' "BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"What's so funny, Ranko?" Yamcha asked as he sidled up near her. Her laughter had easily attracted his and Krillin's attentions. But where Krillin stayed focused on the 'match', Yamcha decided to some reconnaissance into his opponent since he'd never seen or heard of her before. And there was also the minor and _completely unrelated_ fact that she was quite gorgeous! Despite himself, he couldn't stop from glancing subtly at her very well developed and proportioned body. Give her another few years to grow and mature and he had no doubt that she'd become a _true_ beauty! Luckily, the girl was having too much fun howling at the fight to notice his wandering eyes.

He was lucky she didn't. Ranma had never been Yamcha's biggest fan. For one, he was a bandit (former or otherwise). In young Ranma's eyes, it was a profession that cast him in the same light as Genma. Second was the fact that Yamcha was a _desert bandit_. He had stolen from people in an environment that made every resource a necessity! That knowledge had caused Ranma to consider him even _lower_ than Genma when they had first met. Say what you will about Genma, but when it came to thieving, he'd never snatched food off the tables of the _truly_ starving. Yamcha had. Blood may have never truly touched his hands but to Ranma, with every theft Yamcha had committed had condemned someone to die from exposure and thirst. Next, there was his reason for banditry. The moron had been a gynophobe who'd moved to the desert to avoid women. And he'd done that _without_ studying how to live off the land. Fear had controlled him and it had cost other people their lives instead of teaching _him_ a lesson. And the last reason? Ranma just really thought Bulma could do so much _better_ than a coward that had caused so many slow and agonizing deaths. Although, as much as Ranma disliked Yamcha, the same could also be said in reverse, but Ranma had never bothered to learn the reasons why Yamcha didn't like him.

Much as he'd rather ignore the guy and continue to try and enjoy the tournament, Ranma decided that he still did have to answer the former bandit. After all, it would be best to not give away his game too early.

"Heheheh! This whole…match reminds me of my hometown!" Ranma admitted laughing, seeing no point in lying about this. "There was this guy there whose _idiot father_ betrothed him to not one but at least _four_ different girls that I _knew of_ , and probably even more! And some of those girls came calling for the guy's hand a couple of months ago, _at the same time!_ Naturally, they started getting into some petty fights with each other. And this whole thing here just reminded me of it! Hahaha!"

"Heh," Yamcha smirked, looking somewhat uncertain. "I can't tell if I should _pity_ or _envy_ this guy you speak of."

"Pity," Ranma answered immediately, glancing down at him momentarily with a very serious look. "You should _definitely_ pity him, Yamcha. Those girls and their constant fights made his life a _living hell!_ " There was a certain cold certainty about the girl's statement that told Yamcha that there was much more behind this story than what had been shared. But the expression on her face told him to not touch it because she didn't want to share it.

Turning their attentions back into the ring, they watched the fight between Krillin and 'Majunior' as it started heating up. Krillin was in fine form, using clever tactics of ki blasts, speed bursts, and fast recoveries to press against and consistently challenge the might of the green demon he fought. But to Ranma's experienced eye, he was fighting a losing battle. Piccolo was largely toying with him. Yes, there were a few instances that Krillin honestly caught him by surprise, which was due in large part to Piccolo's arrogance, but never badly enough to allow the bald fighter to get the upper hand. But when Piccolo tricked him with an Afterimage, causing him to fire his Kamehameha at nothing, and then smacked him headfirst into the ring, Ranma knew that the match had been quite decisively ended.

"Even though he lost, Krillin put up a terrific fight!" the announcer declared to the cheering crowd, who had been positively enraptured by the incredible displays of strength, speed, and technique. The only one not celebrating was Piccolo, who had suddenly gained a new insight into just how potentially difficult his mission of world domination might actually be.

Ranma couldn't stop herself from jumping down from her seat to move forward to congratulate her old friend on his well-fought match with a cute smile. "That was some fight, Krillin. You really have improved from the last tournament."

Despite his disappointment at the loss, Krillin couldn't stop the red blush that coated his face when the adorable redhead approached him with that way-too-cute smile on her face. "A-A-A-Ah, th-thanks. But I had hoped I could've made it at least to the semi-finals in this tournament."

"Mmm," Ranma nodded her head in understanding, still smiling.

"So, you're Ranko, huh?" Goku said from where he stood next to Krillin, looking the redhead over with an intense gaze, like he was searching for something that he thought he recognized but couldn't quite place. "Good luck out there! Yamcha's pretty tough. You might have a hard time against him."

"The only one who's going to have a hard time is him," Ranma countered easily, smirking at her brother. "After all, I bet he's going to be too busy not hurting me than trying to fight me."

"You know...I think you...might be right," Krillin said slowly, contemplatively, while sending a slight grin towards Yamcha who was also making his way over. Leaning slightly and holding a hand up to his mouth, he quietly hissed out, "He's a bit of a ladies man who got dumped by his hot girlfriend recently. So, he might be on the prowl again. Keep your guard up, babe."

"Don't call me 'babe'," Ranma growled back, glaring angrily at Krillin, who quickly danced away with his hands up in a surrendering gesture. After a moment, her expression softened as she said, "But thanks for the warning."

"Here's the fourth match!" the announcer cried out. "We will then see who's the last fighter to qualify for the next round! Yamcha or Ranko!"

"Well, come on, babe!" Yamcha said, smiling charmingly down at the redhead as he moved towards the ring.

Ranma shot Yamcha a glare, following after him while muttering quietly to herself. "Oh, he's asking for it. Just for that, I'm gonna kick him in the nuts."

Unnoticed by her, Krillin cringed in sympathetic pain for Yamcha while Goku just grinned. He nudged his small friend as he said, "Boy, she's a feisty one, eh? Fighting her's gonna be fun!"

As the pair of them made their way out into the center of the ring and settled into their opening stances, the crowd started cheering loudly. They were still quite pumped up from just how exciting the last fight had been and were hopeful that this one would prove just as interesting. The fact that both fighters were much more physically appealing to both sexes just made it even better. Most of the men and a number of girls were cheering for Ranma, while mostly girls were shouting encouragement and even a few date requests for Yamcha. But the three loudest voices were undoubtedly Ukyo, Shampoo, and Bulma as they called out encouragement for their potential lovers.

Or, at least, Bulma _was_ cheering loudly until she saw Yamcha shoot Ranma a charming smile as he said, "Don't worry, babe. I'll take it easy on you. In fact, I'll even let you have the first hit."

Ranma just stared long and somberly at her old rival and acquaintance. He still had a rather boyish face, but which was now marred by a couple of scars, giving him a slightly more rugged appearance. Together with his short hair and well-muscled physique, Ranma could've easily guessed that Yamcha had become quite popular among the girls recently. Sadly, for the former desert bandit, the girl he was presently hitting on was not impressed or even interested. In fact, he was ignorantly poking a sleeping dragon in the eye. That being the case, Ranma's voice was quite cold despite also having an almost serene quality to it when she spoke up in reply a few moments later. "...You know, I was gonna kick you in the balls for that earlier line. But now though I think I'll do something else."

Despite the calm demeanor she was exhibiting, Yamcha couldn't help reflexively faltering slightly at the threat of _that_ type of pain. The fact that the threat came from such an adorable girl who spoke in so calm a voice just further put him off-kilter all the more. "Umm... thank you?" Yamcha ventured.

The redhead's expression darkened as she shot the man a heated glare while crouching slightly deeper into her stance. "Now, you're going to wish that that's _all_ I did to you!"

Yamcha brought up his guard as he saw the unrestrained anger on the girl's face clearly now. "Hey, babe, no need for all the aggression! Tell you what, why don't I take you out to dinner tonight? My treat?"

"...Ok, now you're _DEAD!_ " Ranma growled.

"It appears our two contestants are ready!" the announcer declared from the side, raising one arm before dropping it while dramatically yelling out, " _May the match BEGIN!_ " The loud gong was rung as from the temple, signaling the start of the fight.

The gong had just barely been struck when Ranma launched herself into a speeding blitz attack, hammering her elbow six times in rapid succession squarely into Yamcha's unprotected and unprepared stomach. As Yamcha's eyes bulged out in pain and surprise while he was knocked of his feet and started to recoil away, Ranma threw out a hard kick for his chin, sending him rocketing skywards. After a few moments of flight, he came plummeting back down to the ground. But to his credit, Yamcha was able to recover his breath and ignore the pain enough as the land rushed up to meet him. Catching himself heavily on his hands and knees, he just barely stopped himself from faceplanting into the newly-formed cracks on the tile floor under him.

Glancing up at Ranma with a slightly surprised look, Yamcha was forced to reevaluate his initial analysis of his opponent. Yamcha had at first naively thought that she might've been like Ranfan from the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament, who used her good looks and a flirtatious manner to win the preliminary matches. But clearly this girl had some serious fighting potential, an excellent training regimen, and a superb master if she was already able to fight at this level despite her obvious youth. ' _Looks like I might have to take this fight a BIT more seriously than I first assumed_.'

"Are you going to take me seriously now?" Ranma asked, sending another glare at Yamcha as he slowly pulled himself back up into a standing position. "Or do I need to beat on you some more?"

"Oh, I'm taking you _very_ seriously now, girly," Yamcha stated, a slight glare on his face as he slid back into a stance again. "I suppose a fight _is_ a bad place to ask for a date after all. Guess I'll just have to save that for after I win."

"Good," Ranma said, changing position slightly in preparation for another charge. "Then I can fight all-out now!" With that said, she rushed to attack once again. This time, Yamcha charged forward to meet her head-on.

From the stands, Ukyo and Shampoo were both cheering loudly and excitedly for Ranma. Ironically, they were seated rather close to where Bulma, Oolong, Puar, Launch, and Master Roshi all were. And their loud cries of encouragement and youthful exuberance quickly drew Roshi and Oolong's attentions, especially with just how wild and rambunctious they were being made certain parts of their anatomy bounce quite appealingly. Well, until a loud _crash_ of impact from the ring drew their attentions back to the fight as Ranma and Yamcha clashed mightily. The power of their blows meeting rang out loud and fast, like a pair of shotguns going off at close range.

"Go, Yamcha!" Puar yelled. "Show that girl just how strong you really are!"

"Come on, Ranko!" Bulma yelled loudly. The sight of the fast-paced fighting had really started getting to her. This was further revealed when she grabbed Oolong up by his ears, pulling him into a chokehold, and started smacking his head with her free fist as she continued cheering. "Show that two-timing pig who's boss!"

"Stop it!" Oolong cried out in pain. "That hurts!" But Bulma was too absorbed with the fight to notice his pleas, not that she'd have cared too much even if she did.

' _Remarkable_ ,' Roshi thought in surprise and slight anxiety. ' _This girl has the speed, strength, and experience to rival any one of my students. And she clearly knows multiple different techniques and forms as well. I can see quite a few moves taken from Karate, Muay Thai, Jujutsu, Judo, Kempo, Kung Fu, and even some basic Boxing elements all thrown in together. Normally, fusing such a mixture of attacks and move sets would be something only the best of the best martial arts masters could achieve, but this girl couldn't be any older than Ranma! And that's not even taking into account that she fights in a completely different manner than any I've seen before. It looks more like an amalgamation of the techniques than any particular style. This adds a level of unpredictability to an otherwise ALREADY highly-skilled and powerful opponent_.' He let out a low sigh as he summed up his thoughts with a grim realization. "I fear Yamcha is not going to win this match."

Master Roshi's analysis was being quickly proven true, much to Yamcha's great disgruntlement. Each time he tried to attack, the girl dodged, blocked, or otherwise countered in a fashion he couldn't easily deal with. Every time she attacked, she seamlessly slid between fighting styles like water around stones in a river. Kung Fu-styled sequences changed into Muay Thai knee and elbow blows before finishing off her attack with a strong Judo throw that knocked the breath from his lungs again, and that was just the most recent sequence! She changed her patterns randomly and no two sequences were ever the same again. Not to mention that she was amazingly fast, agile, and seemed to have endless endurance, attacking full-pelt without letting up for a moment to even catch her own breath. It was like she wasn't even tired after attacking him without rest for more than five minutes straight! All that just frustrated Yamcha to no end.

That isn't to say that Ranko was having the fight all her own way. Yamcha was clearly her inferior in terms of martial skill, but his strength and durability were nothing to sneeze at. And this was perfectly demonstrated when he willingly absorbed a cluster of the girl's lightning-fast punches to his abdomen to catch her shoulder, pinning her momentarily in place long enough for him to deliver a power knee to _her_ gut. The blow sent the redhead flying a few meters, gagging in pain, before she landed in a skid on her feet while cradling her injury with an annoyed glare on her face.

"You're really good, Ranko," Yamcha stated, wiping the mixture of blood, sweat, and spit from his lips with the back of his hand. "Much stronger than I first gave you credit for. So, as much as I don't wanna do this, I'm gonna have to use my last resort. I didn't think I'd have to use it in the first round though."

"Oh really?" Ranko said, smirking as she stood up right and slid into a new stance once again. "Color me interested. Show me what you got!"

"Oh, I will!" Yamcha said, grinning as he grabbed his right wrist and started focusing his ki intensely. His hand started glowing from the amount of ki that was being gathered there. After a few moments, a golden ball of ki burst out of his palm and hovered above it. Sending his curious opponent a confident smirk, Yamcha launched the ball forward with a cry of "Sokidan!"

Ranko barely had enough time to blink in surprise at the unexpectedly fast speeds the ki ball traveled at before she twisted to the side, letting the Sokidan pass harmlessly past her shoulder. Though somewhat surprised at her fast reaction speed, Yamcha quickly recollected himself and redirected the Sokidan into a loop to circle around back towards the girl. Ranko watched the circling ball with a narrowed gaze of contemplation as she almost idly dodged to the side again. This time not as surprised, Yamcha was able to redirect the attack much more quickly, sending it into a dizzying series of spins and lunges. But Ranko just continued to dodge them with unnerving ease.

"Okay, this attack is somewhat interesting, I'll admit," Ranko said as she looked back towards Yamcha. "But you do realize that it has several flaws, right?"

"Oh really?" Yamcha snapped, his ire having grown with each missing pass his technique made. "Like what?"

"The Sokidan must be a pretty new technique to you. It took you far too long to create and launch," Ranko stated analytically, not at all moved by his obvious mounting anger. "It clearly requires a large amount of your concentration in order to control and direct, meaning that you're stuck in that position." She paused for a moment to once again dodge. "I could rush you right now, and you'd have to choose between using the Sokidan to stop me or retaliate yourself, which could cause you to lose control of the technique, right? And finally, I'm guessing that this technique is a one-shot attack, meaning you can't use it on me for more than one strike." She ducked as the Sokidan raced up her again.

Despite himself, Yamcha couldn't help grinding his teeth together in annoyance as he redirected the ball again. ' _This girl is like **Ranma!** Lecturing me about the supposed flaws and holes in my style and techniques! Like he knows anything about it!_' " _WHAT WOULD YOU KNOW?!_ " Yamcha roared as he shot the Sokidan downwards from above the girl. Ranko lightly bounced to the side, letting the attack burrow into the arena floor, causing everyone in the audience to assume the attack had failed and fizzled out. Unseen by anyone, Yamcha pulled the Sokidan to a halt with a grin as he waited for the girl to reset herself.

"So, got anything else smart you want to say before I smack you out of the ring?" Yamcha demanded, having finally decided that he _didn't_ want to ask this girl out after all. She was too much like Ranma for his tastes.

"Yes," Ranko stated blandly. "Don't assume the fight's over until _it's over_ or you'll just make a fool of yourself again."

"Oh really?" Yamcha said, his smirk deepening as he readied himself. "Same goes for you!" Whipping his hand up dramatically, he sent the Sokidan racing upwards towards Ranko from below. The ball burst out of the ground like a bat from hell, blitzing up towards the girl's face. However, Ranko merely moved one of her hands and caught the ball, stopping it in its tracks, causing all of the audience and Yamcha to gawk in surprise. ' _No way! Her reflexes are even FASTER than I thought they were!_ '

"So, are you done showboating now?" Ranko asked as she clenched her fist, crushing the Sokidan and causing it to disperse into nothingness. Seeing Yamcha's gawking expression, a cute smirk crossed the girl's face. "Well, I guess it's _my_ turn now!" Jabbing her finger forward, a golden bead of ki formed before launching itself at Yamcha. "Dodonpa!" Yamcha just barely managed to dodge the beam, which shot past him and snapped one of the trees growing next to the Temple. Before Yamcha had a chance to get his feet reacquainted with the ground again, Ranko adjusted her aim. "Dodonpa!" And again Yamcha was just barely able to dodge. "Dodonpa!"

"The Dodonpa?!" Krillin gawked, along with Tien and Goku. "No way! She's of the _Crane School?!_ No way! She's _way_ too nice and gorgeous to be one of _those_ creeps!"

"Tien, is she a student?" Goku asked calmly, only taking his eyes off the action long enough to glance at his slightly taller friend.

"I…I don't know," Tien admitted uncertainly, eyes wide, before glancing down to look at his two friends and rivals. "I left the Crane School and Master Shen shortly after the last tournament. I suppose it's _possible_ she might've joined up after that though."

 _"Oh man,"_ Krillin whined again. "Why is it all of the gorgeous babes are always one of the enemies?"

"We don't know that for certain, Krillin," Goku pointed out, returning to watching the match again as a small smile blossomed on his face. "Besides, she didn't go anywhere near Taopaipai when he was here. Wouldn't she have if they were allies?"

"Enough already!" Yamcha cried out, sick and tired of constantly having to franticly dodge, much to the great amusement of the crowd.

Launching himself forward, he smacked aside the latest Dodonpa that was headed for him and closed the distance as quickly as he could, going for a flying kick for the girl's head. Seeing what her opponent was up to, Ranko finally ceased her infuriating attacks and was forced to dodge. Falling back to the floor as Yamcha was flying over her, Ranko kicked out at his exposed and most vulnerable section, nailing a _crippling_ double kick to his crotch area. Almost in slow motion, Yamcha's furious expression changed to one of utmost and indescribable **_agony_** with his eyes almost literally bulging out of their sockets. He let loose a scream of pure misery as the kick sent him flying over the edge of the arena to crash up amongst the audience, undeniably out of bounds.

As Yamcha tried to manfully push himself back to his feet _without_ the help of the nearby spectators, Ranko called out to him. "And by the way, I happen to like _girls_ , pervert!" Somehow, despite how incredibly pale he was, Yamcha's furious face managed to redden in embarrassment at this final humiliation delivered to him by the girl as the surrounding crowd laughed at him uproariously.

"We have a ring out!" the announcer cried. "Yamcha has been thrown out of bounds in the perhaps the most _humiliating_ means possible for a man! That makes Ranko the _winner!_ "

* * *

( **Tellemicus's Note** ) Sorry for the long wait. My muse is pretty low these days because the workload and job hours I have to endure at their all-time-highs what with it being the holidays and everyone's taken to shopping at Amazon online nowadays. That's why this chapter is only this long. I had originally intended to make the chapter cover all the way up to just before the Finals and whoever fights in them. Still, even though it isn't as far as I wanted it to be, I think this chapter's covered a pretty good portion so far, right?

And so, we have the Semifinals decided! Goku vs. Tien, Piccolo vs. Ranma! Who's gonna win?! Who's gonna make it to the Final Round?! Will Goku manage to hold onto his title as the Strongest Under the Heavens Champion? Will Piccolo actually take the win? Or will Ranma be able to pull one of his usual come-from-behind upsets and win it all?

Hey, has anybody noticed my new coverart for the story? I had it personally commissioned by the remarkable **DesingAHV** and boy am I proud of it! For those you who are interested, here's the link to find it on my DeviantART page.  
 **www deviantart com/tellemicus/art/DBZ-Ranma-Goku-and-Ranma-s-Double-Kamehameha-772641984**

( **Fiori75's Note** ) Okay so I don't hate Yamcha, he has come a long way from being a bandit by this point and is one of the future Z-fighters. He's a guy willing to give his life for his world. But as first impressions go? His sucked. in fact a lot of Goku's future allies made rather shitty first impressions. Bulma shot him, Oolong was kidnapping people, Krillin was an asshole, Piccolo killed Krillin. the list goes on. But this is how Ranma himself looks at Yamcha, and in that case his first impression has haunted him when it comes to our favorite wild horse.

 **Power Levels** :

Goku ( **age 18** ): 310  
Piccolo ( **age 3** ): 305  
Hero/Kami ( **age 38/ age 295**): 15/220  
Ranma ( **age 16** ): 250  
Tien Shinhan ( **age 23** ): 240, (full powered Kiai) 260  
Cyborg Tao ( **age 297** ): 210  
Krillin ( **age 18** ): 190  
Yamcha ( **age 23** ): 155  
Chichi ( **age 18** ): 130  
Chiaotzu ( **age 18** ): 110  
Shampoo ( **age 16** ): 90  
Ukyo ( **age 16** ): 85


	7. The Bucking Bronco

**.**

 **Son Ranma  
** By: Tellemicus Sundance  
Co-Authored by: Fiori75  
 _#07: The Bucking Bronco_

 **May 7, Age 756**

Piccolo was just a few short hairs away from seething in silent fury. The source of his anger was due in large part to the previous match that he'd just witnessed. Both fighters in it were of remarkable stock. Even though he'd been greatly outclassed, Yamcha had truly put up an admirable fight and showed a good level of skill when he revealed the ki technique he'd apparently made himself. With a good bit more training, the young man might one day become a threat to the heir of the Demon King. Although, Piccolo found himself somewhat looking forward to the possibility of that because the idea of watching the man struggle to rise to his level, battle him, and then fail just seemed so poetically appropriate to the green man.

On the other hand, that redhaired girl he'd fought was on a whole other level. She must've been up there with his enemy and himself, or near enough to be a serious threat. Although she seemed to be Yamcha's equal in strength and durability, Piccolo could easily see that she had still been holding back a large chunk of her true power. Why she would do this to a man who she clearly didn't like confused Piccolo momentarily. Maybe she was just relishing the chance to dance circles around him all the while knowing she could end the fight whenever she chose? But regardless of that, her fighting skill and style were definitely something to respect, unpredictable and varied were just some of the easiest terms to use to describe it. If he had to guess, where his enemy specialized in brute power and strength, this girl was the pinnacle of speed and style. But the worst part about her was that until this tournament had started, Piccolo had never even heard of her. And she wasn't in any of the memories he'd inherited from his father either. ' _I need to keep as close an eye on her as I do with Goku_.'

With that thought in mind, Piccolo turned his attention away from the arena from where he stood on the roof of the temple. There was nothing more to watch for the moment now that the fight had ended. But he still kept his ears honed in on the various conversations, keeping tabs especially on Goku, his friends, and now Ranko.

When Ranko returned back to the waiting area, she was greeted by a series of cautious, stunned, and even slightly upset looks from her friends. Krillin was gawking at her while looking like he'd recently eaten a whole batch of lemons. Tien was almost glaring at her, probably unsure how to deal with her given the possibility of her being a Crane School student. And Goku had a rather interesting amused and contemplative look on his face, probably weighing in his head how much of a fight he could get out of her and what kinds of techniques she might know.

"Hey, there," Goku greeted, his soft grin still going strong on his face. "That was some fight! Great job out there!"

"Thanks!" Ranko replied grinning back. "He was better than I thought he might be, but he's still got a lot of training to do if he wants to beat me."

"So, are you a Crane School student too?" Tien asked bluntly, not seeing any point in dancing around the question.

Ranko just shot the triclops a grin. "Did I learn any techniques from the Crane School? Yes. Am I an enlisted member of the School? No. I learned several techniques from fights I've gotten into with Crane School students. Most of them were absolute pricks, so I'd decided to never willingly join that dojo if I could help it."

That answer seemed to surprise the group. "Seriously?" Krillin asked. "You were able to figure out how to use the Dodonpa just from seeing it used against you a few times while in the middle of a fight? That's incredible!"

Ranko just shrugged her shoulder nonchalantly. "Eh, I've always been good at ki control and figuring out techniques like that. It's no big deal."

"'No big deal'?!" Krillin repeated in disbelief. "Lady, if I had even a pinch of that talent, _I_ would've been the world champion at the last tournament!" While Goku nodded in ready agreement with his friend, Tien just quirked an eyebrow at Krillin's exaggeration before returning his attention to the girl.

"This tournament has reached a fabulous level!" the announcer's voice cut in over their conversation, ending it as they all turned, ready to continue the tournament. "After these outstanding fights, the best fighters will compete in the Semifinals! We present to you the four combatants: Tien, Goku, Majunior, and Ranko! And they are all extraordinary experts of martial arts! The first match of the Semifinals shall be between fought between Tien and Goku! During the last tournament, Goku had defeated Tien after a very tough against his younger brother Ranma. They were almost equal last time they fought. But what will happen this time? Will Goku be able to maintain his Championship title or will Tien be able to avenge his loss from last time?!"

As the announcer had been speaking, both fighters had made their way out of the waiting area and onto the arena floor, lightly jumping over the dividing wall and landing right in the center of the ring. While sliding in his fighting stance, Goku shot Tien a happy grin. "Now, I can _finally_ fight you when you're at full strength!"

Tien smirked himself. "Don't get overconfident, Goku. This fight will not be anywhere as easy as the last time."

Piccolo's gaze instantly refocused upon his enemy as he watched the combatants prepare to fight.

"Now, show me what godly training can do!" Tien challenged, earning an excited chuckle from Goku.

" _Match BEGIN!_ " the announcer yelled as the gong was rung.

Goku and Tien immediately shot forward, strong blows crashing together and generating thunderous explosions.

* * *

"You were forced to share your strength, speed, and power," Goku was explaining to the downed Tien as he pulled himself back up into the ring after being knocked out of it. "Everything was just one-fourth of your total. That was a big mistake on your part, Tien. And that's not like you to make such a mistake. The idea of separating into four might've been a good strategy against an untrained opponent, but…"

' _He understood all of that in such a short fight…?_ ' Roshi could barely believe that this incredible young man was the same kid he'd trained and even somewhat raised seven years ago. Goku's growth was simply phenomenal in so many ways. And it made him feel so proud to see just how far one of his best pupils had come!

"Haha," Tien laughed somewhat awkwardly, not really upset that he'd lost as he realized that all of Goku's points about his mistakes were spot-on. "I lost…again. And this time I didn't even have the time to use the Bukujutsu… I didn't think you'd find the flaws so easily."

"I didn't even see Goku send Tien out of the ring," Yamcha muttered quietly to himself, feeling sweat beading thickly upon his brow. "Man, I've still got a long way to go."

"Even after such a fight, he doesn't look tired at all," Krillin mumbled, his expression showing his flabbergasted awe clearly for all to see. "and he won without the Kamehameha…"

"You're right," Ranko agreed, a small smile on her face as a fierce blaze of excitement burned in her eyes. "I can't _wait_ to fight him in the Finals! It's gonna be _awesome!_ "

Krillin and Yamcha both shot the girl incredulous looks, with Krillin saying, "You sure are confident."

"Mmm!" Ranko hummed, bobbing her head in acknowledgement of the simple statement as Tien and Goku returned to the waiting area.

Chichi was at Goku's side almost immediately as he stepped off the arena floor, excitedly gushing. "That was amazing, Goku! You've become even more incredible in martial arts than I remember you being!"

Goku just chuckled slightly at her praise.

"Too bad, Tien," Yamcha said as Tien drew up level with him, Krillin, and Ranko. "It's a shame you couldn't earn the title for yourself this time. But you definitely gave him a good run for his money."

"No, I did not," Tien said, shaking his head slightly. "My strength is nowhere near Goku's anymore. Who could've imagined he made so much progress? And we still haven't even seen his real strength yet."

"We haven't…?" Krillin couldn't help saying. "Just how powerful has he become…?"

"He's probably just saving his strength for the Finals," Ranko stated simply, crossing her arms under her large breasts slightly. "Whether it's me or Majunior, Goku's going to need all of his strength to deal with us and he knows it. That's why he fought at near your level for the majority of the match, Tien."

Her statement drew the tall fighter's attention, a contemplative look on his face as he remembered Goku quietly admitting to him that Majunior was Piccolo Daimao's son. And given the green man's rather brutal fighting methods, it was quite obvious what he intended to do should he be matched up with the demon. "Yes, I suppose that makes sense."

"Huh, you know…" Krillin said slowly, a questioning and almost inquisitive look in his gaze as he stared hard at Ranko. "That's the type of strategy I could easily see his brother, Ranma, using to fight with. And…you sure do seem to know an awful lot about…everything, really."

"I'm just _really_ observant," Ranko replied, shooting the small monk a coy smirk that had the little man turning a deep red instantly.

"Excuse me, young lady," an unfamiliar voice spoke up from the side, attracting the group's attention. It was a rather plain-looking man wearing a simple white office shirt and some baggy jeans. If not for the strange ki signature he was putting out, none of the fighters would've thought he was anything but a common salaryman. However, he wasn't paying any of the men any attention, his gaze focused solely on the lone girl in their midst. "May I have a quick word with you, please?"

"Sure, old man," Ranko said, nodding as she moved over towards and away from the group.

Once they'd turned the corner, the old man stopped and placed his hands behind his back as he took a deep breath to calm and center himself, still facing away from the girl. "You know, Son Ranma, you ruined a carefully crafted plan. I had intended to stop Piccolo in this tournament, one way or another. And now, thanks to your interference, I can no longer feasibly do so anymore."

Though blinking somewhat in surprise at having her identity revealed so bluntly, Ranma just shrugged nonchalantly and rolled with it. "Yeah, but it wouldn't have worked anyway."

The Kami-possessed-Hero stuttered to a halt, having not anticipated that response from the girl. Turning around, he stared long and hard at the girl's confident expression before he continued, "He would've been sealed away, quite safely, and unable to harm anyone else."

"Yeah, that implies that you're planning on using the same technique that's already been used on him before, _twice_ ," Ranma shot back, not at all guilty about using her knowledge of the original manga to poke at the holes in Kami's plan. "I don't know about you, but _I'D_ have been desperate to develop a counter to something like that. _Especially_ if it'd been used multiple times on me already."

Seeing the pained grimace on Hero's face, Ranma knew she'd scored a point over the Guardian. Hero quite clearly reluctantly nodded in agreement after a moment of consideration. "You have wisdom in your words. But we shall never know now."

' _Actually, I DO know_ ,' Ranma thought somewhat grimly. But she quickly shook off that thought with a large grin. Turning, she waved casually over her shoulder towards Hero as she called back, "Don't worry, old green. I've got this! And even if I don't beat him, Goku _most assuredly_ will. Have a little more _faith_ in us, old man."

Kami just watched as the cursed lady turn the corner for a moment in silence. Once she was gone, the disguised Guardian let loose a low sigh before a small, wry smile crossed his face. "Yes, perhaps I should put a bit more faith in my student and his friends. All of them are rapidly approaching me in terms of strength and ability after all. Very well, Son Ranma. I'll leave things in your hands this time and we'll see how things play out." Turning, he made his way back towards the audience to watch the last two fights alongside his host's son.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen! After this next match, we will know who the other finalist will be!" the announcer cried from the ring, sounding every bit as pumped and excited as the rest of the crowd was after such an awesome fight between the Finalists of the last tournament. "I'm sure that this fight will be amazing! They aren't known in the fighting community, but they are both _extremely_ skilled martial artists! Majunior vs Ranko!"

" _Oh!_ That's my cue!" Ranko chirped, her face lighting up with blatant excitement. As she ran for the ring, she turned back to shoot her friends a grin and a wave. "Wish me luck, guys!"

"…Are we _sure_ she was one of the Crane School students?" Yamcha asked carefully as the three of them made their way back to the entrance to watch the fight. "She's way too nice to be one of those creeps." And boy was that a hard statement to make after the humiliation she put him through earlier!

"That's what I said!" Krillin said.

* * *

Out on the ring, Ranma started pulling at her arms and doing a few squats to loosen up her muscles and joints in preparation. Piccolo just watched her with a cocky, almost arrogant smirk on his face from the other side of the ring. "And here I was thinking you got scared and ran off, girl."

"Of you? No way!" Ranma countered as she slid into a fighting stance. "Even on my worst day, I'd have been more scared of a day-old kitten than your ugly mug!"

Piccolo's smirk instantly shifted into a furious snarl as he clenched his fists. He just couldn't help it, the girl's confidence and lack of fear towards him was infuriating! As was that self-satisfied smirk she wore when she saw that her retort got to him. In the time it took the announcer to begin the match, Piccolo had gotten his initial rage back under control.

For a moment, neither of the combatants moved, patiently waiting for the other to make the first move. Snorting in angry amusement, Piccolo decided to try his hand at getting her angry. "I'll end this match in thirty seconds, tops. You are not my target. Son Goku is. So, I'm not going to waste time on you."

"If you keep focusing on him, you're going to miss me knocking you out!" Ranma shot back, frowning somewhat at being dismissed so casually. "I _really_ hate being told I'm not good enough, _especially_ before we even fight… But then again, I wanna fight Goku too."

Then she shot forward in a faint streak of speed that no one but Goku, Piccolo, and Tien could follow. Piccolo had just enough time to widen his eyes in surprise at her incredible and unexpected speed before she buried her fist wrist-deep into his stomach. The strong blow bent the demon in half and threw him off his feet, spittle flying from his mouth as he gagged in pain. Not relenting, Ranma followed after him, continuing to hammer into his exposed abdomen for all she was worth. However, Piccolo quickly recovered, getting his feet back under him, and lashed out with a powerful right hook to the girl's jaw. The punch caught Ranma squarely and knocked her back a few paces, allowing Piccolo just enough time to launch himself forward to begin his own assault.

Despite still recovering, the redhead saw the green man rapidly closing and easily fell back into her usual evade and dodge tactic, ducking, swerving, and retreating, letting Piccolo hit nothing but air. Bouncing back slightly to dig her feet into the ground, Ranma leapt forward, driving her knee and elbow both forward. Piccolo was able to block the elbow but didn't see the knee coming. Maneuvering in a manner that should've been impossible, Ranma spun around and brought her other leg up, kicking Piccolo between his shoulder and neck before he could bring his defense up. Despite hitting a nerve cluster, Piccolo ignored the numbing pain as he grabbed the girl's blue shirt and body slammed her into the ground. But as he was raising his leg to stomp her face into the hard tiles, Ranma heaved herself away, sliding away across the floor before bouncing lightly back to her feet and settling into a ready stance. Picking his foot out of the small crater he'd made with his missed stomp, Piccolo settled into his own stance, glaring darkly at the smirking girl.

"Whoa…" Krillin gasped out in awe, eyes wide. That entire first sequence might've only lasted a few seconds, but the power of those blows and the speeds they were moving at were well beyond what he could've achieved without a lot more training.

"No wonder we lost to them," Yamcha said, feeling just as awed as his friend, but also somewhat more understanding and respectful towards the girl now. "These two are on a completely different level!"

"What do you think, Goku?" Tien asked. Not getting an answer, he glanced at his friend but found the young man's attention focused squarely on the combatants with an intensely contemplative look.

A soprano battlecry coming from the girl drew everyone's attention as she launched herself back towards Majunior. Now knowing that the girl was far too fast and agile to land a decent hit on, Piccolo decided to change tactics. He held up his hands and unleashed a rapid barrage of ki attacks. Seeing the incoming attacks caused Ranma to abort her charge and start dodging, jumping, sliding, and handspringing away in a wild display of acrobatics that would've left most Olympic athletes green with envy. Sadly, most of the audience wasn't able to enjoy the display as the numerous energy attacks were kicking up loud explosions, raining dirt and debris down on them while momentarily obscuring the fighting ring in smoke and dust. Despite the consistent dodges, Piccolo pressed his assault, hoping to corner the girl and blast her out of the arena. But just as he was feeling that he was about to do just that, the girl suddenly slid to a halt before rushing forward, ducking under his barrage as he adjusted his aim quickly.

Not wanting her to get too close, Piccolo finally ceased his barrage as he leapt high into the air and came to a hover about ten meters up. ' _Given her aggressive nature, she won't leave me alone up here. And the short bald one said that she might've been a student of the Crane School, meaning she can probably fly as well. Once she leaves the ground to pursue me, I can blast her out of the air as she comes after me!_ ' Even as he was formulating his strategy, Piccolo was already gathering the necessary ki into his hands in preparation.

"Kamehame—" the girl's voice called out, drawing everyone's attentions. Shining brightly through the smoke and dust of the earlier ki barrage, a ball of blue-white ki grew in intensity between the girl's cupped hands. The various Turtle and Crane School martial artists all blinked in surprise or shock at seeing yet another of their techniques being utilized so casually by the girl as she brought her hands up and launched the beam straight towards Piccolo. "HA!" The powerful backlash of the beam instantly cleared the lingering smoke and dust as it shot skywards.

Snarling in anger, Piccolo was forced to dodge to the side as the beam shot towards him, losing his focus on his ki attack he'd been charging in the process. The Kamehameha left a blinding glare in his eyes momentarily as he watched it shoot past him, distracting him as he hurriedly tried to blink it away from his sight. The distraction might've only lasted a few seconds, but that was more than enough time to allow Ranma to come rocketing skywards and drive a massive uppercut into his chin. The blow hurt but it wasn't crippling, like all of the girl's attacks. Reorienting himself, Piccolo bellowed out in rage as he counterattacked, lashing out in punches and kicks.

Down below, Ukyo and Shampoo were both loudly cheering and laughing. "Go, Ranchan! Go!"

"Show ugly green man who boss, Airen!" Shampoo cheered, bouncing in almost-ecstasy alongside her rival.

The two girls were easily the most energized of the entire audience. Unlike a large majority of the people around, both of the girls were trained just enough to be able to keep track of a lot of the fight that was taking place before and above them. The high-adrenaline, mountain-crushing, explosive battle was positively exhilarating for them, tantalizing their own fighting spirits, and exciting them in numerous other ways. And now they watched as Ranma entered her fighting specialty: aerial combat against an admittedly superior opponent. Just the sight of seeing Ranma bouncing off of Piccolo's attacks, counterattacking at unexpected angles, spinning off and lashing out, whether hanging upside-down or defending her back from Piccolo's stretching arms or floating around in a haphazard fashion with her ki, it didn't matter. To most of the audience who were present watching the aerial battle, the acrobatic redhead seemed to almost transform into an awe-inspiring angel descended from heaven to smite the foul green demon with whom she fought. Ranma was truly in her element and was blatantly outclassing Piccolo, as demonstrated when she casually managed to tie Piccolo's stretched arms into comical knot before bouncing forward to land a face-smashing double kick to his nose. Piccolo didn't fight against it, letting gravity drag him back down to the ring under them as he set to work unwinding his arms.

' _Dammit!_ ' He was panting heavily with sweat coating his entire body from the surprisingly colossal effort he was needing to use. He shot an absolutely furious glare up at the girl as she dropped down to the ground across from him. ' _What kind of training did she undergo to be able to fight so…naturally in the air like that?!_ ' Perhaps the only consolation he had was that the girl seemed to be breathing just as hard, if not harder, than he was.

"Ha…ha…ha, gotta admit," the girl said slowly, heaving for breath. "You've…got me…on my last legs…Piccolo."

"How do you know my name?!" he barked out in surprise.

The girl shot him a deadpan stare as her breathing started evening out. "Come on, Greenie! _Anyone_ who's seen your dad's ugly mug could've figured _that one_ out!"

"You…! You…!" As much as he wanted to argue the point, Piccolo found he just couldn't muster up the interest to care anymore about that. Instead, a different question materialized in his mind. "Who are you really? You fight like a Turtle, yet you fly better than a Crane, but are neither. Just who are you?!"

"Me?" A mysterious but knowing smile crossed her face as she settled down into a fighting stance again, readying herself. "I'm just a wild horse looking to get back into the race!"

Unnoticed by anyone, a smile spread across Goku's face when he heard the girl say that. ' _I knew it_.'

Snarling in growing anger and frustration, Piccolo snapped out, "Well, horse, turtle, or crane. It doesn't matter who you are! I'm ending this!"

Throwing himself forward into a high-speed charge, Piccolo attacked with all of his rage-empowered might as he could summon. Instead of blocking or counterattacking, the girl began to dodge to the side. As she did so, a strange sort of calmness fell over the girl's expression. "Jeez, you're slow. What's the matter? Didn't think things would be so hard for your hostile takeover?"

Off in the audience, both Shampoo and Ukyo gasped in surprise and shock as they both recognized what their beloved was up to. " _No!_ He can't be serious! What about the audience?! They'll get caught up in the technique too!"

"Nothing we can do," Shampoo said, just a touch more in control than Ukyo. This was thanks to her better understanding of the technique. "Just trust that Airen will focus attack away from audience."

But the girls weren't the only ones who noticed something different was happening. The one who had the best idea of what was happening was Master Roshi. "Remarkable! Truly remarkable! This girl knows how to regulate her ki into the hot and cold spectrum!"

"Huh?" Bulma said, glancing at the old man in confusion. "Hot and cold spectrum? What're you talking about, Roshi?"

"It'd take too long to explain right now, Bulma," Roshi stated as he remained uncharacteristically focused on the fight. "But suffice to say that it is a very obscure and advanced ki technique that has long fallen out of use. And yet her ki has suddenly become very, _very_ cold. What is that girl up to?"

"Come on now," Ranma beckoned degradingly as she sidestepped another savage flying kick. "You're never gonna make Daddy dearest proud if you can only go _that_ fast!"

Piccolo's answering bellow of fury was all the proof needed to show that the girl's taunt had _really_ struck a nerve that time. But even through the haze of his rage, Piccolo saw that the girl's dodges had become sharper and less evasive as she seemed to reach the end of her rope. The sight of her heavy panting, clearly just moments from collapsing in exhaustion, was enough to invigorate Piccolo's assault. "What's the matter, bitch?! Finally get tired of running? Or just tired?!"

"Nah," Ranma remarked with that infuriating cool and confident grin still firmly in place. "I just figured now's a good time to end this. I win, Piccolo." Lunging forward with unexpected speed, the girl landed a decisive uppercut to the green demon's jaw. "Hiryu Shoten Ha!"

A massive tornado of ki and wind sprung to life around the girl as her punch launched Piccolo into the air. The tornado continued spinning, wildly blowing away anything not bolted down to the ground, including more than a few of the unprepared spectators. Piccolo had not expected anything like this and thus had no defense against it as it lashed him to and fore. But even as the winds slammed into and tossed him about remorselessly, Piccolo was still somewhat able to notice that the technique seemed to be feeding off of his own ki and rage. With how surprisingly worn out he had become from the fight and his lack of defense against this technique, it was only a few moments before he was rendered unconscious and flung out of the twister at a high angle. He landed in a crumpled heap atop the temple roof behind the arena before crashing through it and landing in a pile of debris somewhere in the temple, well out of bounds.

"We have a winner!" the announcer declared, having been one of the few who had managed to keep track of Piccolo and saw him land out of bounds. "Contestant Ranko will move onto the Finals!"

"Whew," Ranma breathed out, panting hard for a moment as the audience cheered deafeningly around her. Looking around as she got her breath back, Ranma just raised her hand in gratitude to the applause.

"The Finals will feature Son Goku vs Ranko!" the announcer continued. "The fight has the potential to be the best yet! But it will start after a 10-minute recess. So, don't go anywhere, people!"

Shuffling over towards the waiting area, Ranma couldn't help smirking slightly as she saw the confused and rather dumbfounded looks on the faces of her friends. However, just as she was passing the threshold, a sudden spike of aggression from Kami's ki caught her attention. With a speed and strength that belied her battered and exhausted body, Ranma shot forward for the temple, bulldozing through walls in her frantic need to catch and stop the Guardian.

Smashing through the last obstructing wall, she arrived just a split second after Goku, who had already taken up a defensive stance between the two green men. Having discarded his host's body, Kami was still in the process of flinching back in surprise Goku's abrupt arrive, failing to notice Ranma's arrival until after the girl grabbed hold of his raised forearm. Kami again flinched in surprise before turning an angry glare upon the two of them.

"Wha-What's the matter with you two?!" Kami demanded, looking and sounding rather offended by their actions. He tried to pull his arm free, but Ranma's grip was like steel. After a few moments of struggle, Kami gave up and focused on the young man standing directly in his way.

"And you?" Goku demanded back, in a very uncharacteristically serious voice. "What are _you_ doing?"

"He…He's still _alive!_ " Kami pointed out, glaring down at Goku. "We have to _kill_ him! We _can't_ let him live! Or he'll try this same thing _again_ or something _far_ worse!"

"No, he won't," Goku stated back, quite certain in his conviction. "And even if he does, I'll stop him. Or, if I fail, Ranma will." Ranma glanced over at Goku with a slightly quirked brow, but said nothing since she could see he was still focused wholly on Kami. "And if you kill him, you'll also die."

"So what?!" Kami snapped. "You can just ask Shenron to wish me, and just me, back to life afterwards!"

"I-I think he's right, Goku," Tien spoke up, watching with the rest of their friends through the hole in the walls that Ranma had made. "There's no other way to stop Piccolo." Despite Tien and several of their other friends' votes of agreement, neither Goku nor Ranma moved from their positions as they maintained sentinel over the downed demon.

"So, the Guardian of the Earth has the right to lie?" Goku asked with an accusing glare, causing Kami to blink in surprise. Goku shot Kami a knowing smirk as he continued, "You created the Dragonballs and Shenron, right? Therefore, if you die, they also disappear. Right?"

"Sounds like a 'heads you lose, tails I win' kind of deal to me," Ranma remarked, an accusing glare on her own face. She watched Kami begin seriously simmering in anger while their group of friends all gawked in surprise at this revelation.

"Is that true?!" Master Roshi asked, having joined the group after the end of the match.

After a long moment of silence, Kami finally took a long breath to calm his anger before he replied. "I should have quit a long time ago. I had created Piccolo, a horrible demon that's trying to destroy the world and that has surpassed my strength. I am no longer worthy to be the Guardian… I must die…"

"But… it's you who really brought back peace on earth," Master Roshi countered calmly. "Without the Dragonballs, Goku and his friends would never have been able to accomplish what they have. And it all started with a single Dragonball that _you_ created."

Even as he was speaking, memories of the past few years were flashing through the old man's head, and among the others also present. Memories of Ranma and Goku's first meeting, which also had resulted in their first fight together. Of Bulma crashing into Goku while Ranma frantically leapt for his life over the screeching car. Of Bulma telling the boys of the legend of the Dragonballs and her talking them into accompanying her on the quest. Of Master Roshi standing atop Turtle upon them helping the creature back to the sea. Their first meeting with Yamcha and Puar in the desert. Their intense training with Krillin while Launch helped with the housework as she hid from the cops yet again. Tien and Chiaotzu arrogantly smirking down at the two small boys alongside Master Shen. So many memories, both good and bad, all thanks to the Dragonballs.

Looking around and seeing the confident or happy smiles or grins of the people surrounding him, Kami closed his eyes and looked skywards, almost in prayer. Then, releasing a long sigh, he looked down at Goku and Ranma with a serious gaze, "Young ones, you are lucky to have met such a wise mentor and to be surrounded by such loyal friends and family."

Goku just smiled as Ranma finally released her grip on Kami's arm. "Yeah, he's somewhat of a pervert, but still…"

"Now, now, I only taught the basics to my students," Roshi interjected awkwardly. "It was you and Master Karin that taught Goku everything worthwhile. And who knows what Ranma's been up to!"

Kami quirked an eyebrow at that statement, before glancing questioningly at Ranma. The redhead just giggled awkwardly herself, rubbing the back of her head. "Well, you'll certainly be able to learn all about _his_ misadventures in due time. In the meantime…"

He held up his hand over Ranma's head before a burst of energy enveloped the girl. When the light died down, the girl's formerly torn, bloodied, and dirty blue silk shirt and dark pants had been replaced with the classic Turtle School red gi, along with a blue undershirt and wristbands. As the group around them recoiled in surprise, Kami smirked as he watched Ranma examine his handiwork. "Heheheh, the Turtle School's uniform fits you like a glove, Ranma."

"Thanks!" Ranma chirped, smiling widely, ecstatic at being once again clothed in her most favorite outfit.

"Wh-Wh-WHAT?! RANMA?!" was the general outcry of surprise from the group as they stared at the revealed redhead. Ranma just chuckled again, grinning at their uncomprehending expressions. ' _Ha! I knew it! This whole charade was totally worth it!_ '

However, before any of them could more properly respond this newest revelation, a sudden surge of malevolent ki jolted everyone's attention back to Piccolo. They had just enough time to see Goku crouched over the green demon as his throat moving, swallowing what must've been a senzu bean. In the time it took everyone to cry out in surprise and alarm at Goku's actions, Piccolo had already bounced back to his feet and jumped away from the group, glaring hatefully at them. Although he was clearly torn between who deserved his wrath more at this point: the redhaired girl who'd defeated him just now or Son Goku who'd killed his father.

Standing up with a certain amount of lack of concern, Goku said simply, "If you die, Kami dies too. And I don't want you to die yet either. At least, not until I get the chance to fight you myself later."

Although he was snarling, a smirk soon replaced it. "Heh…heheheh… Fine, I'll admit it. I lost this time. I'll leave peacefully, but I'll be back and the world will be at my mercy."

"You see?!" Krillin yelled at Goku, practically in full panic mode. "Look at what you've done! You should've killed him!"

But Piccolo ignored the terrified monk as he shot upwards through the hole in the ceiling he'd made and quickly vanished from sight. His parting words were quite simple. "Enjoy your life while you can!"

After several moments of silence, during which Kami shuffled off to the corner and disappeared from sight as well, everyone eventually turned back to Ranma. As usual, Goku was the one to make the first move, pulling the girl into a tight hug which Ranma gratefully returned.

Then Goku took a step back and grabbed Ranma's breasts. "Huh, they're real. And bigger than Bulma's. Does this mean you're actually my sister, Ranma?"

"GOKU!" everyone yelled at him, excluding Ranma who casually smacked his hands off her chest. "You don't talk about those things in public!"

"At least not with other women around," Roshi added quietly, mostly to himself, before he sidled up next to Goku and studied his long-lost student. "So, you're Ranma. Quite a lot's happened in three years, it would seem. If only you'd bloomed while you were still training with me!"

To that statement, Ranma just let out a long and loud groan of frustration while rubbing her forehead. "Perverts. I just can't escape them." Then she shot Roshi a calculative gaze. "Still you're better than Happosai."

"I don't know what a 'Happosai' is," Roshi said slowly, frowning slightly. "But it sounds like something even _I_ would find offensively perverted."

Chuckling slightly, Ranma smiled at her old master. "Trust me, master. You're much better than it implies."

"But Roshi's right," Krillin said, trying not so successfully to stare at Ranma's rather pronounced breasts now as he continued. "Were you always a girl?"

"Nope, I'm a 100% guy!" Ranma answered, grinning back at her friend with almost childish delight.

At her very firm statement, the group couldn't help giving Ranma a very thorough survey of her body. The adorable face, large breasts, small waist, pronounced hips, and dainty limbs all strongly pointed a very feminine body figure.

"Are you sure?" Yamcha couldn't help uttering, unsure if this was another prank of Ranma's or not.

Nodding, Ranma said, "Just get me some hot water and I'll show you." Moving over to the restroom, Ranma gave the group the basic summary of how she got a magic curse due to her 'trainer's abundant stupidity.

"So, is it permanent?" Tien asked, keeping his face carefully neutral while watching as the girl turned on the hot water faucet.

In response, the girl cupped her hands under the slightly steaming water and splashed her face. The effect was almost instantaneous as the feminine body features were seemingly washed away to reveal the slightly older face of the friend they all had known years ago. If there had been any doubt about this girl being Ranma before, or about the truth of the curse, it had been quite suitably dashed now.

"Nope, just need hot water," Ranma said, looking over at his old opponent with a calm certainty about him. "At least, until the next time I get splashed with cold water."

"That's a…very weird curse," Master Roshi said, his expression rather solemn and serious. And he wasn't just speaking as an ignorant fool either, since he was actually very familiar with magic thanks to his sister being a rather talented and powerful witch.

"Tell me about it, Master," Ranma nodded in annoyance. "At least I only have to put up with it for another eleven more months."

"Why's that?"

"Oh, you're gonna wish away your curse with the Dragonballs!" Goku guessed, smiling as he made the connection quicker than the others.

"Yeah, mine and someone else's," Ranma said, nodding in acknowledgement of Goku's guess as they departed from the restroom.

"Someone else?" Goku asked. "Who else has a curse like that?"

"Airen/Ranchan!" twin voices cried out moments before the still quite excited teen girls did a very rare double-glomp on the still exhausted and aching martial artist. Thanks to his exhaustion, Ranma wasn't able to muster the strength needed to keep himself upright, which ended up sending all three of them to the ground with both girls practically straddling him as they both babbled incoherently at the same time.

Behind them, Roshi, Krillin, and Yamcha all stared down at the gaggle with undisguised envy in their eyes. ' _That lucky bastard!_ '

* * *

"Thanks for the senzu bean, aniki," Ranma said as he and Goku headed back towards the arena. Their fight was scheduled to take place in just a few moments. Although he had just returned to his male body after several days of being a girl, Ranma was carrying with him two cups of water, one hot and one cold. As much as he didn't want to return to his female side anytime soon, he knew that the tournament officials and spectators wouldn't just turn a blind eye to a sudden 'roster change' as was so common back in Nerima, especially not such a bigtime tournament as one like this!

"Well, I didn't want a repeat of the last tournament," Goku stated, grinning confidently over at his brother. "When I win this time, I want it be because I beat you at your best. Not because you were still worn out from your last fight."

"Heheh, yeah, sorry about wearing Tien down like that," Ranma laughed, being careful to avoid spilling the water in the cups. "But I'm also _not sorry_ about that. He was a ton of fun to fight! And I expect an even _better_ fight from you, so don't you dare hold back on me!"

"Hmm," Goku grinned in response.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer suddenly cried out, earning both young men's attentions. "The Finals is about to start! Who will become the World Champion? Will Son Goku maintain his title or will Ranko manage to take it from him?!"

"Heh, let's go give them a good show, aniki," Ranma said, earning a grin from Goku.

Walking out from the waiting area, Ranma and Goku entered the ring. More than a few of the audience began pointing and gesturing towards Ranma, confusion evident about who this new fighter was and why he was there.

"I'm sorry, young man, but who are you and where's Contestant Ranko?" the announcer asked, moving towards Ranma.

Moving over to meet the announcer partway, Ranma gave the man an annoyed grin as he leaned forward slightly so that his voice would carry over to the microphone in his hand. "Sorry about the confusion, but I'm Ranma, or rather Contestant Ranko. I entered the tournament under a false name as a prank for my friends and family. But since it's the Finals and I'm against my brother, I wanted to fight in my true form."

"Ranma…" There was a look of dawning realization as the name struck a chord in the man's memory. "Wait! As in 'Son Ranma'? Goku's brother from the last two tournaments?"

"That's right," Ranma nodded. Awkwardly holding up the cup of water in a gesture for patience, Ranma continued when he saw the obvious question on the man's face. "I had a bit of an accident a few months ago that caused me to get a magical curse that turns me into a girl."

"A…magic curse?" the announcer questioned, looking understandably uncertain about taking Ranma's word at face value.

"Seeing is believing," Ranma said as he promptly upturned the cup of cold water over his head, instantly changing back into his Ranko form in front of the entire audience, silencing many of the ones who were starting to become rowdy in their disbelief. Turning, Ranma handed Goku the cup of hot water as she turned to face the audience. "I hate fighting in this body if I can help it! So, I'm gonna finish with this tournament in my male form!"

Without needing any prompting, Goku splashed Ranma with the cup, turning her back into a guy. Nodding in gratitude to his brother, Ranma finished his statement with a simple "If you got a problem with that, _too bad!_ "

Tossing the cups aside, the two fighters took up positions in the ring and waited patiently for the announcer to recover his equilibrium and start the match. "Well…ah, h-here's the Final Match of the 23rd Budokai Tenkaichi! Who will emerge victorious?! Son Goku or Son Ranma?! _May the match BEGIN!_ "

Bellowing out battlecries, both fighters rushed forward. Both led with right hooks and raised their knees to hit their opponent in the gut. However, seeing the incoming punches, both of them brought up their other hands and caught the fist before it could land with their knees impacting heavily into each other and canceling out their lower offense. For a moment, the two of them strained against each other, testing their strengths in a short shoving contest. A contest that Goku was quickly proven to be the mightier of, pushing Ranma back several inches while shifting their arms into a more advantageous position for himself. But before Goku could enact whatever maneuver he had in mind, Ranma swung forward and headbutted him in the face, causing the older warrior to lose his grip.

Both fighters broke apart and jumped away from one another, resetting their stances momentarily before dashing forward again. This time, when they met, they did so under a hail of punches and kicks. They began moving at speeds that none of the spectators could easily follow, just blurs of speed that dashed to and fro with only small snapshots of action becoming visible as they slowed down for a split second. Ranma blocked an elbow to the face while landing a punch to gut. Goku deflected a kick towards his shoulder that could've disrupted his balance while chopping forward and smacking Ranma in his chest. Ranma launching a double punch towards Goku's face and torso, which Goku managed to block. Goku grabbing one of Ranma's arms and throwing him high into the air.

Spinning around easily, Ranma gathered ki into his palm and launched it at Goku. Goku easily bounced aside, the ki blast kicked up a good-sized crater and obscuring the area with dust and debris. As Goku emerged to the side, he was forced to dodge a second blast, and then a third. Landing on the ground again, Ranma sped up to attack Goku again, only to be met about a spinning kick to the face as Goku jumped out of the dust. Pressing his attack, Goku began sending more punches and kicks towards Ranma again. This time, Ranma switched back to his usual duck and dodge tactics, avoiding each strike by the skin of his teeth.

As Ranma was flipping away, he lashed out with a surprise kick to Goku's face, knocking his back slightly. Not wasting his chance, Ranma dashed in and grabbed Goku's shins. Leaping up into the air, Ranma put himself into a rapid spin, hauling Goku along with him and quickly building up speed and momentum. Attaining the force he wanted after five spins, Ranma released Goku and sent him careening back to the arena floor, which knocked up an even larger crater than before and momentarily winding him. As Goku was picking himself back up hurriedly, a surge of ki above him brought his attention back to Ranma as his otouto dropped towards him with a pair of shining ki blasts glowing in each of his palms.

Goku leapt up to meet him, lashing out with punches and kicks. Ranma used his own legs to block and deflect Goku's counterattack before swinging his hands down to try and hit him at pointblank range with the ki blasts. But in a surprising show of rapid assimilation that was his hallmark, Goku began using the same aerial style as Ranma, using the force of Ranma's blocks to spin and dodge out of the way of Ranma's ki bombs. Rolling back and kicking out with his legs, Goku was able to knock Ranma's arms wide apart while also sending the ki balls flying away into the air, where they exploded harmlessly.

However, this little maneuver left his back unprotected, which Ranma immediately capitalized on. Using his own legs to grapple and throw Goku bodily back to the ground below. But unlike last time, Goku was able to land on his feet. Cupping his hands, he gathered ki as he formed the Kamehameha and launched it up at Ranma. Putting his arms up, Ranma blocked the ki beam, letting it push him up into the air as he struggled to adapt to it fluctuating surface. But when he was able to, he pushed himself up and over the beam, letting it sail on behind him and leaving him to fall back towards the ground from nearly twenty stories in the air.

Landing lightly on the ground thanks to his ki slowing his descent, Ranma settled back into a fighting stance as he stared hard over at Goku, who was also reevaluating his strategy and opinion of his opponent. Despite the incredibly fast-paced fighting and painful blows they'd been receiving and sending, both teenagers were wearing satisfied, even joyful grins on their faces.

Chuckling lowly as he felt his warrior's spirit starting to rise to the fore, Ranma began gathering his ki. Channeling it into his body to empower and amplify his physical abilities, Ranma's body burst alight with a wild aura of brightest light. "Ready for Round 2, aniki?"

Seeing what Ranma was doing, Goku matched his grin with one of his own, likewise feeling more excited and energized than he ever had before. Focusing his own ki, he quickly matched and then exceeded Ranma's output by a considerable margin. "Ready when you are, otouto!"

Ranma sent him a brief smirk before charging forward with a bellow. Goku met him halfway with a cry of his own, fists flashing. A series of thunderous explosions of sound and light emitted from the ring as both fighters fazed out of the visibility. Cracks spread across the arena floor, large chunks of debris randomly lifting and being kicked about, craters forming or enlarging, powerful winds blowing off the arena with each visible explosion or not.

"Incredible!" Krillin cried from where he was hanging onto the temple fence, squinting through the winds.

"Go Ranchan/Airen!" Shampoo and Ukyo both cheered, eyes wide as they took in as much of the fight as they could.

"Jeez, what is with the Son family being such powerhouses?!" Yamcha complained. He could barely follow the fight _before_ they powered up! Now, he almost as blind as the rest of the audience.

"Look at as motivation to train that much harder!" Roshi advised, bracing his walking into the soft soil to help anchor him in place. Tien didn't say anything, but he definitely agreed with Roshi. This was _excellent_ motivational material to triple his training regime when he got back to the mountains!

"This guy's definitely Goku's brother," Chichi said, more to herself than anyone else, as she connected the image of the handsome young man to the memory of the crass child who'd asked her why she was dressed like a loli-hooker... She also still owed him a solid punch for that now that she actually knew _what_ he'd called her.

Following an especially loud explosion, two figures finally rematerialized in the pulverized fighting ring. The brilliant ki auras they'd been exuding prior had long since faded. Both were in torn and bloodied gi, panting and sweating in equal measure. Ranma had somehow lost his right shoe and part of his pants leg. Goku's gi top was shredded, leaving him in just his blue undershirt. Looking between the two of them, even an untrained observer could see that Ranma was definitely much worse for wear, his panting breath coming out faint and strained as his body heaved with effort.

But despite their mounting exhaustion, the grins on both young men were still as wide as ever. Without any verbal consent, both of them slid back into their fighting stances as they prepared for the final clash. Drawing out the rest of their ki, auras flared to life around them. Then the auras condensed and collected into their fists. Seeing that they were entering the final phase of the tournament, the crowd started going absolutely wild, cheering, screaming, and thrashing about energetically while chanting the names of their chosen champions.

Bellowing out loud battlecries, Ranma and Goku charged forward again, but were moving much slower now. Ranma landed a solid punch to Goku's cheek, sending him sliding backwards several paces with Ranma giving immediate pursuit. Despite the blow, Goku reoriented himself quickly and waited for Ranma. Dodging Ranma's follow-up hook, Goku hit him with a vicious left straight to the face, knocking the pigtailed warrior back slightly. As Ranma was recoiling, Goku landed a right straight to his face again. Finally recovering, Ranma lunged forward as Goku backtracked away, dodging Ranma's return gut punch easily.

Sidestepping around the outstretched arm, a brutal right hook to the jaw sent Ranma reeling again. Moving with the force, Ranma jumped up slightly and tried to kick Goku in the face. But the older warrior caught his leg and punched Ranma several times in the gut before throwing him into the ground several paces away. As Goku raced forward to press his advantage, Ranma spun around Goku's attacking arm and landed a smashing punch to his jaw. But Goku retaliated instantly, landing his own punch to Ranma's jaw again and sending him skidding away.

By this point, both fighters had completely zoned out about everything around them. To them, they had entered into a black void in which all that existed was each other and the need to fight. Summoning up the last dredges of his ki, Ranma charged forward, screaming defiantly as his glowing fist raced forward. Goku mirrored his actions almost perfectly, sprinting forward with his own ki-enhanced fist at the ready.

The explosion kicked up by the two battling energies as they clashed this final time was positively blinding. In the center of that explosion, a glowing void of absolute silence filled the area around the two of them as they grimaced in pain at having fists buried into their cheeks. For just a split second, neither of them moved, locked in seeming epic struggle. Then, slowly, one of them toppled forward, landing face first in the gravelly remains of the fighting ring they were in.

* * *

( **Author's Note** ) Whew, finally! The Holiday shopping season is FINALLY over! That means I can finally get back to my usual schedule and begin punching out these chapters again! Speaking of this chapter, what did you lot think of it? I personally quite enjoyed it in several different areas. I tried to insert as much of the Ranma-esque humor as I could where appropriate.

However, I think I'm most proud of the Piccolo fight. Originally, I actually _HADN'T_ intended for Ranma to win against Piccolo, just to make a _damn_ good showing. But, by popular demand, I decided to include the use of the Hiryu Shoten Ha, which is (let's face it) an absolute _game-changer_ at this point in the series. Neither I nor **Fiori** could see any other outcome to that going than a victory for Ranma. And while some of you may criticize us Piccolo being heated up and angry, I will retort by saying that he's still pretty young (only 3 years old!). So, he's quite inexperienced in a lot of things, even fighting. This tournament is likely the first true test of his skills yet, so he was essentially running on raw talent and instinct with no experience to temper himself against. Meaning, that he didn't see any problem with losing his temper against an opponent who was clearly his inferior in terms of strength and power. But now that he's been exposed to a rather obscure ki technique that can even the playing field against him, he's that much wiser now. While he's still got some major growing pains to undergo if he wants to challenge Ranma to a rematch anytime soon, I doubt we'll be seeing the return of 'berserk Piccolo' again.

 **Power Levels** :

Goku ( **age 18** ): 310  
Piccolo ( **age 3** ): 305  
Ranma ( **age 16** ): 250  
Tien Shinhan ( **age 23** ): 240  
Hero/Kami ( **age 38/** **age 295** ): 15/220, (full power when not possessing Hero) 440  
Krillin ( **age 18** ): 190  
Yamcha ( **age 23** ): 155  
Chichi ( **age 18** ): 130  
Chiaotzu ( **age 18** ): 110  
Shampoo ( **age 16** ): 90  
Ukyo ( **age 16** ): 85


	8. The Wild Horse Matures

**.**

 **Son Ranma  
** Written By: _Tellemicus Sundance_  
Co-Authored by: _Fiori75_  
 _#08: The Wild Horse Matures_

 **May 9, Age 756  
Son Family home**

"Man, it's good to be home!" Goku said, smiling widely as he set Chichi down gently outside the door to his old house.

"Home's where…the heart is," Ranma replied, nodding in agreement as he touched down nearby. He was sweating and panting heavily but looked very satisfied with himself. "Man, I…really need to…boost my ki reserves! …Flying that far is…hard."

"I _told_ you use the jet capsule, Ranma," Chichi stated blandly, looking rather smug that her earlier statement of him wearing himself out flying had been proven correct.

Whatever reply Ranma would've made in return was silenced as a sudden roar of twin carbine engines and a powerful wind swept over the area. The three of them turned and watched as the large hovercraft came down for an unsteady landing, jerking and swaying as Ukyo fumbled to control it. With a loud, jarring thump, the hovercraft came to a heavy rest on the ground. The impact clearly strained the landing struts to almost the point of damage. As soon as the vehicle landed, the passenger door flew open and Shampoo leapt from the cockpit in a dive, rolling across the ground in a near-panicked heap. And judging by the white-knuckled grip she had on the control sticks as she waited for the engines to unwind and stop, Ukyo probably would've joined the Amazon had she not been flying.

Chichi walked over to help Ukyo shut down and store her hovercraft while Goku shot his brother a grin. "Ukyo's not a bad flyer. She managed to keep up with us _and_ not crash!"

"Heh, yeah, much better than when you tried to fly one that one time, remember?" Ranma shot back, grinning as Goku's expression turned sheepish.

POOOF! The hovercraft disappeared back into its capsule, which Chichi picked up and stowed in her case. Turning back to Goku, Chichi smiled widely over at her new husband as she said, "Well, honey, don't you think you should show me around our home?"

"Huh? Oh, okay! Come on, Chichi!" Goku chirped as he led her into the small hut.

Walking over to where Ukyo and Shampoo were still busy calming their nerves, settling their stomachs, and getting their breaths back, Ranma knelt and rubbed both girls on their shoulders consolingly. "All things considered, you girls did quite well for your first time flying a hovercraft solo."

"Ranchan…" Ukyo said, looking over at him with pale face but a very serious expression. _"Tomorrow,_ you are going to teach me how to _fly_ with my ki!"

"Mmm!" Shampoo added in, nodding in complete agreement. "If Shampoo _never_ ride those _flying coffins_ again, it'll be too- _too-too soon!_ "

"Sure," Ranma agreed easily, fully understanding and agreeing with their reasoning.

By the time Ranma had managed to coax both girls back onto their feet and shepherd them into the hut, Chichi had already come a verdict. "This isn't going to work, Goku."

"Huh? What's wrong with it, Chichi?" Goku asked looking very confused.

"Is there a problem here?" Ranma asked, glancing between the two as Shampoo and Ukyo made their way over to the small kitchen table.

"Of course there's a problem, Ranma!" Chichi said forcefully before sweeping her arm about to gesture to the single room hut all five of them were in. "Just look at this place!"

Goku and Ranma both looked around the hut as directed by the elder lady, seeing it as more or less as they remembered it being. There was the doorway in the center of the wall facing south with Goku's bed and Ranma's old futon mat rolled up and stuffed into the corner along the right-side wall. Nestled against the far wall was an antique but well-furnished dresser. On the left-side wall was the small kitchen area with its stove, fireplace, chimney, small cabinets, and a sink. And situated in the center of the one-room hut was as a small round table that could've comfortably fit four people for lunch. All in all, aside from a bit of accumulated dust, it looked to be in quite good shape despite the years of neglect it'd gone through recently.

"I don't see anything wrong it," Ranma stated honestly. "There doesn't seem to be any holes, I don't see any mold, and it doesn't smell bad."

"Yeah, Chichi," Goku agreed, looking back at his wife questioningly. "What's wrong with it?"

Chichi's face scrunched up tightly in repressed irritation and confusion, looking unsure whether she wanted to yell at both of them for their stupidity or groan out in annoyed frustration. Fortunately, before she could blow her top, Ukyo spoke up, "It's too small, guys. How do you think all five of us could live comfortably in here?"

"Aiyah!" Shampoo nodded, looking somewhat annoyed that she was finding herself agreeing with her rival _again_. "Shampoo want her _own_ room and not have to share Airen with _everyone!_ "

"And where would we all sleep?" Chichi asked, cocking her eyebrow inquisitively as both brothers shared confused looks.

"W-Well, I was thinking we could…move the table out of the way somewhat?" Goku stated, though it came out as more of a question.

"And I'm sure we could get some more blankets from somewhere before night comes?" Ranma hesitantly added, trying to back up his brother, but also already starting to see that this was a losing battle for the both of them.

" _I'm NOT sleeping in some DOGPILE like an ANIMAL, Ranma/Goku!_ " all three girls yelled simultaneously as they glared at the floundering brothers. The identical expressions of uncertain and fearful awkwardness on both young men's faces were enough to somewhat cool the girls' affronted anger.

As Chichi drew in a long, slow breath to calm herself down, Shampoo's expression then suddenly changed as a wonderful idea came to her. Moving forward, she grabbed Ranma's arm and pulled him back outside without a word. Goku watched them go for a moment before his attention was recaptured by Chichi as she said, "I wonder if we could get your friend Bulma to give us a capsule house?"

"A capsule house?" Ukyo asked, looking intrigued at the idea. "Aren't those things kinda like old-school campers and recreational vehicles?"

"Yes, that's right," Chichi nodded, looking at the younger girl. Truthfully, she wasn't surprised that Ukyo didn't know about capsule houses since they had only been on the market for a couple of years. "But the problem is that I don't think they sell four- or five-bedroom sized houses."

"At least, none that we could afford, right?" Ukyo guessed, earning a nod from Chichi. "They must be _exorbitantly_ expensive."

"What about our prize money?" Goku asked innocently. "I got the Championship money, and Ranma got the Runner-up money. That should be enough, right?"

"Well, yes," Chichi admitted hesitantly. "But I had wanted to save that money for when our children were going to go to university. Those are even more expensive than a capsule house!"

At the 'c-word', a prominent red blush lit up Ukyo's face as fantasies about her and Ranma's potential future children danced through her mind for several moments. Chichi noticed Ukyo's distracted gaze and red face rather quickly but said nothing as a small smile crossed her face, already guessing where the girl's mind had gone. Refocusing back onto the situation at hand, Chichi turned back to Goku, "That being the case, do you think you could talk Bulma into giving us one as a 'wedding gift'?"

"Well, ah…" Goku looked uncertain. "Maybe? Bulma doesn't like spending money on me. She always used to complain about me 'eating her out of house and home.' I don't wanna _really_ have to eat her out of house and home now!"

"Hahaha, Goku!" Ukyo laughed. "That's just an expression! I'm sure she didn't mean it _literally_."

"Well, alright," Chichi conceded before continuing with saying, "Maybe Ranma would be better to ask her for help… Where is he anyway?"

"I think he went outside with Shampoo," Goku said helpfully, already heading for the door. Ukyo and Chichi were just a second behind him.

Just a few paces away outside, they found the pair digging through their pockets. Scattered around them was a growing pile of stuff that most assuredly hadn't been there when they first entered the hut. Some basic construction tools like axes, picks, shovels, levels, and several large bags of concrete, rolls of animal hides and leather, and even a couple of weapons like swords, spears, and maces made up most of the pile. While Ukyo and Chichi were gawking at the mess that the two had been making at their doorstep, Goku's eyes widened as he saw something incredible that his brother was doing.

"How are you doing that, otouto?!" Goku gasped out excitedly, leaping over to Ranma's side and staring in wide-eyed fascination as Ranma pulled a sledgehammer out of his pants pocket. Even Goku knew that something like _that_ went against all laws of physics! "That's incredible! What all've you got in there?!"

"It's a little ki technique I learned a few weeks ago from Shampoo's great-grandmother," Ranma explained, grinning at Goku's overawed expression. "I'll teach it to you later, aniki. Right now, I'm gonna teach you something else. Trust me, it'll be a big help in the next few years, I'm sure."

"You got an idea?" Goku asked, stepping back slightly. "What is it?!"

"Get ready, Goku!" Ranma said as he turned and shot his brother a challenging grin. "I'm gonna show you how to perform the style of Martial Arts Construction!"

"Construction? As a martial art?!" Immediately, memories of him, Ranma, and Krillin working at construction sites on the island as they underwent their first training regime under Master Roshi shot through Goku's head. Ranma had learned a way of turning building construction into a martial art?! "How's that possible?"

"Watch and learn, aniki!" Ranma chirped, grinning at his brother's confusion.

* * *

 **May 10, Age 756  
Son Family home**

" _I CAN'T_ _ **BELIEVE**_ _YOU KIDS! HAVE YOU NO SENSE OF_ _ **RESPECT**_ _OR_ _ **COMMON DECENCY**_ _OR EVEN_ _ **SELF-CONTROL**_ _?!_ " Chichi screamed as she glared between Ranma, Ukyo, and Shampoo, though more so at the girls than Ranma. Her fury was so domineering and bestial that ominous dark clouds in the sky, a blazing aura, and even her breathing flames wouldn't have been out of place. She had been yelling at the three of them for nearly a half hour now, making them all feel like they were in the presence of pissed off royalty (which they were, actually) and an extremely controlling and disappointed mother figure nearly twice their age rather than a simple housewife who was barely two years older than them.

The reason for her unfathomable wrath was quite understandable. What with the broken and twisted remains of the house they'd built the previous day lying behind her in a shattered heap. Goku stood off to the side, watching as his wife revealed a new side of herself that he hadn't seen yet. And while the sight of her fury terrified him, it also sparked something rather primal inside him. Despite her fury, Goku couldn't stop the weak smile that was crossing his face as he watched the spectacle.

"EXPLAIN TO ME, YOU TWO, _WHY_ YOU FELT THE NEED TO NOT ONLY _INTERRUPT MY_ _ **WEDDING NIGHT**_ _WITH MY HUSBAND_ BUT DESTROY THE _NEW HOUSE_ WE'VE SPENT _ALL_ _ **DAY**_ _BUILDING!_ " Chichi demanded, finally coming to an end of her rant due to needing to take a few breaths of air and finally ready to actually _listen_ to their reasons.

The three younger members avoided each other's gazes, looking resolutely at the ground with prominent blushes of embarrassment on their faces. For Ranma and Ukyo the pair looked the very image of the chastised and forlorn children being disciplined by their very upset parent. As both had lost their mothers when they were very young, this was easily their first true experience with being on the receiving end of an angry maternal figure. Only Shampoo bore the tirade with any form of grace. For while she too had lost her mother, growing up under the heels of Cologne had more than prepared her for the angry rantings of an older woman. To say nothing of the many other members of the tribe that had acted as her mentors. Perhaps the only thing that kept them all from subconsciously submitting to Chichi's dominance as the alpha female among them was the not-so-slight reminder about them accidentally disrupting her _much-anticipated_ wedding night with her husband. And wasn't _that_ highly embarrassing to all involved! But even with how embarrassing it was, it had still reminded them that she was about their own age, so they didn't need to be _as_ submissive as her frothing fury was trying to make them feel.

"Sorry, Chichi," Ranma said bluntly, ready and willing to take his share of the blame. "It's a holdover for the girls from our old home. These two are major rivals in several ways. Despite how well they've been getting along in these past few days, I should've known something like was this coming and prepared for it. Although, even for them, this is a _tad_ extreme, I will admit."

"Shampoo sorry," the Amazon meekly added, almost too scared to say anything more.

"Me too," Ukyo said. "We'll get started on rebuilding right away."

"Oh no!" Chichi snapped, her angry frown and glare narrowing vindictively. "If this type of thing is so common between you two, there is _no way_ am I going to deal that everyday from now on!" Turning to her husband, her sharp glare snapped him into almost a defensive posture as she barked out, "Goku! Get started building a new house! But only make it big enough for the two of us!"

"But Chichi—" Goku started.

"Don't you 'But Chichi' me, Goku!" Chichi interrupted. "I am not going to live under the same roof as these ruffians! They can live in their own homes nearby, but _not_ in _ours!_ Understood?!"

"Yes, madam!" Goku answered instantly without any further complaint. Without further ado, he shot off into the nearby woods to get started on collecting the necessary lumber.

Turning back to the younger trio, Chichi said, "I don't care where you live, whether together or separately, but it won't be in my or Goku's house again! Understood?!"

"Yes, madam!" all three squeaked out in fright.

Chichi glared for a long moment between them before she took a deep breath and visibly sagged as she _finally_ started calming down. Rubbing her forehead, where she felt the beginnings of a headache forming, she muttered out to herself, "It figures he'd attracted girls like this. Such a goddamn playboy! No wonder he knew what a hooker was before his own older brother could even tell girls apart from boys!"

"Hey, that wasn't my fault!" Ranma shot back instantly, feeling greatly offended. "My father was a very, very despicable man! I'm lucky I—!"

"I don't care, Ranma!" Chichi snapped back, her glare returning to her face, though thankfully nowhere near as heated. "Get to work on building your new house! I'm going to try and salvage what I can from this mess! Get going!"

That command snapped all three teenagers into action, breaking off to perform whatever tasks they felt they needed to do.

* * *

 **May 11, Age 756  
Second Son Family home**

"Ranchan! Breakfast is ready!" Ukyo called out backdoor of their new house.

Off on the side of the grassy knoll that the new pair of houses had been built, she spotted Ranma, Shampoo, and Goku going through a basic set of katas. But at her call, Ranma and Shampoo came a halt and, pausing only long enough to reassure Goku of their return, ran for the house and the awaiting meal. Ukyo came back inside and started setting the table, laying the various food dishes on the table in preparation. By the time Ranma and Shampoo had arrived, Ukyo had already taken her seat and was waiting impatiently for them so as to get started.

Despite sharing heated and semi-aggressive looks between the girls, the meal passed by quietly as they dined. When he finished the bulk of his food, Ranma slowed down his eating and leaned back in his seat with a contemplative look on his face. This strange action from him caught both girls' attentions, causing them to likewise slow down their eating as they waited for what he likely had to say.

"Okay, girls, I think we need to talk," he said seriously, glancing between the two. "If you two want to still live in the same house as me, you need to get start getting along and stop fighting each other over every little thing."

"…That could…be difficult, Ranchan," Ukyo said hesitantly, already knowing what the main problem was. "Old habits die hard."

"Aiyah," Shampoo nodded in reluctant agreement.

"Yes," he agreed, looking between them again. "But I have an idea. A list of rules and a rotating chore schedule should probably cut down on the little problems, right?"

"That be helpful, yes," Shampoo said, smiling slightly. "What you thinking, Airen?"

"Well, first we'd need to decide who does the cooking, cleaning, and whatnot," Ranma said, idly taking a small bite of the potato chunks on his plate. "Since Ukyo made breakfast, I'll clean up and do the dishes. That means that you and Shampoo can go back and train with Goku right away. Then, I'll make lunch and Shampoo can do dishes. And Shampoo makes dinner and Ukyo does dishes." Glancing up at the girls to see what they thought of his idea, he asked, "Would that work for now?"

After glancing between each other, they nodded as Ukyo said, "It could work, I guess."

"Okay then," there was a small but pleased smile on his face as he said that. But then his expression turned stern as he continued, "However, I think there should be one major rule. And I'm not going to make any exceptions about this, girls. My room—" he gestured above them, towards the loft that had been built over the kitchen and common area of the dome they were in. "—is off limits to _both_ of you! At all times, _especially_ nighttime!" Despite both girls wearing pouting frowns, they nodded in easy agreement, seeing the wisdom in that rule.

"Okay, if that's going to be the case," Ukyo said, glancing somewhat accusingly over at Shampoo. "Then the same applies _my side_ of the house. Shampoo is not allowed inside _unless_ I invite her in. And, to be fair, _I'm_ not allowed into _her side_ of the house unless invited. Does that work for you, sugar?"

"Aiyah!" Shampoo nodded in instant agreement before turning a slightly flirtatious grin on Ranma. "But Ranma allowed _whenever_ he want!"

"Don't start, girls," Ranma said lowly, gazing sternly between them. After Ukyo's slight bristling settled down and Shampoo gave him a sheepish nod, he said, "I don't care if you don't like each other, but please don't destroy this house like the last one, okay? I mean, we've got all of this wide-open land outside," he gestured towards the windows where they could see sprawling wilderness of the mountainous area. "And we're going to be training an _awful lot_ in the coming months and years in order to _protect the world_. That means that if you've got any problems with each other, work out those problems _out there!_ "

"…Ranchan." There was a certain pensiveness in Ukyo's voice as she said that, earning his and Shampoo's attentions instantly. "While I know you, and _probably_ Shampoo, are going to be at the frontlines of every battle to come…I don't think _I_ will be."

Ranma blinked slightly in surprise, as though the idea that she wouldn't want to keep training and fighting hadn't even occurred to him until just now. Shampoo also looked surprised, but not quite as much. If anything, there was a hint of smugness to her features that Ranma didn't want to contemplate. Instead he chose to focus on his oldest friend. "What? Why, Ucchan? You know as well as I do how often this world is gonna be in danger."

"Because, Ranma, I'm not like you... or even like little Ms. Furball," the look she shot towards Shampoo didn't go unnoticed, but Ukyo continued before Shampoo could formulate a retort. "Fighting to you two... it's your way of life. You live and breathe the Art in a way I just can't. I never intended to be a fighter and warrior all my life. Let's face it, Ranchan. I'm a lot like Akane. I was more of a hobbyist martial artist than a dedicated one like you. My whole reason for studying martial arts were both to beat you for stealing my dowry and leaving me behind, and so my father would finally accept me as his child and heir."

At the mention of her father, Ukyo's already solemn expression deepened for several moments, memories of her father's last words to her drifting through her mind. Ranma gently rested his hand on her shoulder in silent support as he saw her revisiting painfully fresh memories. Shaking her head quickly to disperse those thoughts, Ukyo did her best to regain her earlier composure. Though, Ranma could see the tears threatening to spill out of her eyes even as she powered through to say her piece, "And that... that ties into another reason why I'm hanging up the spatula. My style, it's the Kuonji style of Martial Arts. A _family_ style. Not like your Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu, or Shampoo's Kung Fu, but a real Family Style handed down from father to…from father to son. I'm…I'm no longer a Kuonji. I don't have any right to practice it…" Here, the tears managed a slight victory over her composure as a small trickle ran down her cheeks. The memory overcoming her with emotion, but she pressed on and adopted as much cheer as she could muster for her next words. "Besides, learning and mastering a new style well enough that I could help out in the coming fights could take years. So, yes, I'm done." Glancing at Ranma, she couldn't help feeling a sudden surge of happiness when she saw the prominent pout and honest disappointment on his face. In fact, even Shampoo looked a bit… saddened. "But I will still do some basic training. Gotta keep in shape somehow, right?"

As the two of them sent uncertain but also somewhat relieved grins at her, Ukyo quietly continued, "In the meantime, I was actually hoping you and the others could help me set up another restaurant somewhere. We need a steady income to live off of and I _do_ have experience running my own shop."

"That's a pretty good idea," Ranma agreed, nodding at her point. "And I think I even know a good spot to build this restaurant or pitstop or whatever you wanna call it." Then a new thought occurred to him. "I bet we could even get Chichi to help. She'd probably love to have something productive to do like that."

Though grimacing slightly, already guessing that Chichi would try to take control of her restaurant away from her, Ukyo nodded. "I guess having an extra helping hand wouldn't hurt."

"Shampoo help too!" Shampoo added, giving Ukyo a honest smile that had a slightly nostalgic undertone to it. "It be nice to work again. Shampoo enjoyed working Nekohanten! It be…It be like Nerima for Shampoo!"

"As long as you two don't get into a fight and destroy it," Ranma stated idly, though with a hint of warning. Standing up as he collected the empty dishes, Ranma shot both girls a smile. "Okay, looks like we've got a plan for going forward! This is gonna be interesting!"

* * *

 **March 21, Age 757  
Son Family Training Area**

"…997…99—8…99…9," Pausing to gasp for breath and to focus her strength for this last-ditch effort, Ukyo's expression screwed up into one of intense concentration. Pushing with all her might, she managed to extend her arm back and complete the last one-stand handstand she'd been doing. "1,000!" As soon as she did, her body tilted off-balance and she collapsed to the ground, heaving for breath. To the side of her, a massive granite boulder as large as herself impacted into the hard dirt, having fallen from the precarious position it'd been in when she'd been balancing it on her feet above her.

After giving herself a few moments to catch her breath, Ukyo weakly pushed herself into an upright position and began some light stretches to ensure none of her muscles contracted too tightly or had been pulled by accident. Looking off to the side, Ukyo couldn't help the smile that crossed her face as she stared across the valley and mountains that had become her home. Beside her, Ukyo watched as Shampoo finished her own workout, which consisted of her using the Amaguriken to smack a series of falling pebbles out of the air.

Seeing her rival and (though she'd never admit it) friend finishing up her own exercise, Ukyo looked off to the other side where of their little training area. Over there, Ranma and Goku were moving fluidly through a complex kata that Goku had learned from Kami. The look of concentration and contentment on Ranma's face brought another small smile to the girl's face. She had noticed right away that Ranma had been quite excited when they'd first arrived in this world a year ago. But it wasn't until the final match of the tournament in those last few moments of the fight against his brother that she had seen Ranma happy, _truly happy,_ for the first time in years. And to think that she'd almost decided to not accompany him here after her father had disowned her for not being able to stop him from leaving Nerima and her behind.

"It's weird how all of this stuff's worked out," Ukyo murmured to herself.

"How's so?" Shampoo asked, looking over from where she was sipping at her water bottle. Thanks to a growing sense of maturity and Chichi's heavy-handed insistence, the former Amazon had finally started learning to speak properly. Granted, it was somewhat slow-going, and she did have a tendency to regress back to her 'childish ways' if she got too excited or distracted. But it was definitely a big step in the right direction as far Ukyo and Chichi were concerned.

"When we were in Nerima, I would've never thought I could be so happy away so far from home," Ukyo admitted. "I would've never thought it'd be so liberating to be disowned. And I _definitely_ never saw myself sharing a business with a rival."

"That's Chichi's fault," Shampoo pointed out, pouting somewhat as a reflexive shiver ran down her spine. "That woman is too- _too_ scary to be human!"

"You got that right, sugar," Ukyo agreed, shivering herself. Chichi was a very domineering person at the best of times, but she had become downright terrifying over the past few months as her pregnancy advanced. How Goku could put up with her and those increasingly violent hormonal mood swings was beyond Ukyo's comprehension. "At least we don't have to live in the same house as her."

"Aiyah!" Shampoo chirped, completely in agreement on that point. Picking herself up, the Amazon started stretching and gently pulling at her muscles to keep them loose and ready after such an intense cool-down. Looking down at Ukyo as she restarted doing the same, Shampoo said, "This is nice. Having a new training partner in the mornings, I mean. It gets a little monotonous with just Airen and Goku after a while."

"Wow, is the barbaric Chinese Amazon is actually admitting to getting tired of fighting and training with her husband?" Ukyo asked, the teasing tone in her voice more than apparent to even Shampoo. "And here I was thinking that you'd have been loving the chance to sink your claws ever deeper into him during those sessions."

"Nah, no can do, I already tried that," Shampoo admitted bluntly, looking both satisfied with herself for doing that and embarrassed at it failing. "Goku always ruins the mood, and Airen's always more happy to focus on training when he's around."

Smirking slightly, Ukyo didn't bother trying to hide her amusement at Shampoo's misfortune before she turned a bit contemplative. "I know what you mean. If it weren't for the fact that they see each other as brothers, I'd have started getting worried about Goku seducing Ranchan away from m—us." At that thought, both girls shivered in revulsion.

"That's too-too gross!" Shampoo said, pointing and glaring slightly at Ukyo. "Shame on you, Ukyo!"

"I—I know, I know," Ukyo said, holding up her hands placatingly. "I went too far. I'm sorry."

"Everyone!" a faint voice called from the top of the cliff, attracting all of the fighters' attentions instantly. Standing near the edge, waving her arm beckoningly, was a very visibly 7-month-pregnant Chichi. "Breakfast is ready!"

"Alright! Food!" the boys cried out happily.

They were practically drooling already at the thought of having some more of Chichi's delicious food as they lifted off the ground and flew up towards the cliff, their houses, and the waiting meal. Shampoo and Ukyo were just a few moments behind them, lagging slightly as they fumbled at concentrating and controlling their ki to fly. Despite all of the training they'd received in the past year, it was only recently that they'd started learning this Art, so they were comparatively slow-going. Still, they managed to arrive at the table that had been set out on the lawn only a few moments after the men.

The long table was nestled near the cliff, between where the Son family's two homes had been built, on either side of Grandpa Gohan's old hut. The day was still relatively early, with the morning sun still having rather low in the sky. There were a few scattered clouds hanging about in the sky, but the brightness of the sun's rays did wonders at creating a beautiful display overhead. A picnic breakfast under the dazzling skies after morning training had become their routine in the past few weeks after spring's return.

Placing their hands together, the group of fighters all chanted "Itadakimasu!" before exploding into action. Goku and Ranma's hands flashed forward, collecting a good chunk as much food as they could manage. Shampoo and Ukyo were also grabbing as much as they could before the boys took it all for themselves. While they weren't as voracious as the men, the two girls had been getting noticeably larger appetites as they started their intensive ki training. Only Chichi wasn't acting the part of a 'starving barbarian' as she'd called them, calmly and sedately selecting her own food from the plates. None of the others dared to touch any of the food they saw her reaching for until after she'd already made her selection. Raging hormones and a wild temper about poor manners had taught them that much at least.

For several moments, the table was quiet as they all ate their food. But as the consumption slowed down, quiet conversations were started between the girls.

"So, Ukyo," Chichi said. "Would you like any help at The Hungry Traveler today? I don't care if it's the restaurant or the motel portion. I've been feeling a touch bored today."

"If you want to," Ukyo said, nodding to her. "I suppose you could be the waitress and cashier today. And, if you're up to it, maybe you could help me clean some of the rooms and change the sheets after morning rush?"

After a moment of consideration, Chichi nodded. "That sounds good to me."

When breakfast wound to a close, Ranma and Goku stood up and started collecting the empty dishes and began the somewhat awkward process of maneuvering the mounds into Goku's house for washing and cleaning. "Man, cleaning all these dishes is kind of annoying, isn't it, otouto?"

"Maybe," Ranma admitted as he set his load on the counter next to the sink. "But the girls can't do everything around here."

"I know, I know," Goku said. "But it's still annoying. We always waste so much time doing this when we could be training instead."

"Ah, but we are training, aniki," Ranma grinned over Goku's confused glance. "Think of this as training in your self-control to not accidentally break any of the dishes."

"Ooh!" There was a look of startled realization on Goku's face as this new thought crossed his mind before he shot Ranma a grin, nodding in wholehearted agreement.

While the brothers got started on washing, Ukyo and Chichi left for the restaurant/inn they'd built several months prior. But because the pitstop was about thirty miles away, bordering on the edge of the Mount Paozu area and rested alongside a road that traveled around the wilderness, Ukyo had to carry Chichi as she flew off. If she'd been flying alone, Ukyo knew she could've made the trip in about five minutes. But with a pregnant woman in her arms, she went a bit slower to not startle or jostle the infant within. Shampoo, on the other hand, went back into her wing of their house to change out of her stained and sweaty morning gi, take a quick shower, and get dressed into a fresh gi for the new day.

After drying and putting the dishes away, Goku made his way up his room to grab a new gi himself. But as he was ruffling through his drawer, his hand brushed against something. Curious, he grabbed it and found that it was the old Dragon Radar. Smiling as old, fond memories drifted through his mind that were tied into this little device, Goku clicked on the radar and smiled wider at what he saw. After hurriedly pulling on a fresh gi, he grabbed the radar and rushed outside.

"Ranma! Hey, Ranma!" he called out as he ran across the lawn towards the dome of the other house. "Look! The Dragonballs are active again!"

"What?! They are? Already?!" Ranma called back, peeking over the edge of his loft at his brother, still in the process of pulling on his own gi.

"Yup!" Goku said, holding up the radar that did indeed have seven flashing icons scattered across it's surface.

"Yes!" Ranma cheered, throwing his arms up in elation. "FINALLY! We can finally get rid of these curses!"

* * *

 **The Hungry Traveler Inn & Grill**

"Absolutely not, Goku!" Chichi yelled in protest, standing practically in her husband's face with a hot glare of stern disapproval.

"But, Chichi, why?" Goku asked in honest confusion.

"Because, Goku, in case you haven't noticed, I'm probably going to go into labor and birth our child in the next week or so!" Chichi pointed out, lightly tapping her swollen belly to accentuate the point. Granted, that was a _slight_ exaggeration, but Goku didn't need to know that. "That means that we can't just go off an adventure, getting into trouble while you search for the balls. And we need to stay near civilization, so I can give birth _properly!_ "

"But, Chichi, it'll be fun!" Goku pleaded in an increasingly futile attempt to change his wife's mind.

"Heheh. You know, Chapz, this floor show is better than any drama I've ever seen on tv," a fat truck driver said quietly to another. Both of them stood off to the side by the coffee machines, holding steaming mugs of the dark nectar as they and the other dozen or so customers also watched the scene that the couple were making.

"Yeah, you know it, Salla," his companion agreed. "I'm so glad this pitstop opened. The entertainment is top-notch!"

"Order number 313!" Ukyo called out from the kitchen window.

"Here!" a voice called from a table near the wall. Not a split second later, three plates came flying out of the window, followed soon after by the food ordered. The plates landed somewhat awkwardly on the table in front of the customers, rolling and sliding slightly. But when the food started piling upon the plates, the jostling came to a quick halt. By the time that the last crumb of toast had settled, a perfect array of the ordered food had landed in front of the people who had made the orders. A few moments later, the young but lovely chef responsible exited from the kitchen carrying a tray of drinks in one hand for the table.

"See what I mean?" Chapz said, grinning in amusement as he watched the sexy young chef head over to serve the drinks. "Top-notch!"

Ukyo ignored the lustful gazes she was getting from her male customers. Though she'd always been somewhat cute, Ukyo had noticed recently that she'd been attracting a lot more lecherous stares than normal. ' _Maybe training with Ranma and the others is having an unexpected bonus? Or maybe it's because I'm starting to fully mature now?_ ' Indeed, she had noticed that her body was starting to change somewhat over the past year. Her bras had started becoming uncomfortably tighter and her hips started to become a bit more pronounced. ' _Oh well, whatever_.'

"—and how can I deliver our baby safely away from a hospital?!" Chichi demanded, earning Ukyo's attention after she set the last drink on the table.

"Chichi, calm down," Ukyo said as she moved over to her two new friends, earning Goku's hopeful and admittedly begging gaze and a reproachful glance from Chichi. "You know that Goku, Ranma, and Shampoo are _all_ very good hunters. They can probably live off the land far easier than they could in the city. Food and foraging won't be a problem for us when we get going. Plus, even if we can't get you to a hospital quickly enough, I'm sure that both Shampoo and I can help you. Shampoo most likely even knows how to deliver babies, given her culture after all. So, there's no need to worry about that either."

While the Neriman immigrants were somewhat vague about the details of their 'old home', they did still share a good amount of their pasts with the Sons. So, Chichi was fully aware that Shampoo was descended from a matriarchal tribe of warrior women, and how Ranma's thieving father had tied Ukyo's destiny together with Ranma's forever after stealing her dowry. So, that being the case, Chichi quickly saw Ukyo's point that Shampoo likely did have experience (or at least an education) in pregnancy and birthing women.

"Besides, from what Ranma and Goku've told me," Ukyo continued, smirking slightly as she decided to send Chichi a curve ball. "These adventures generally tend to have happy villagers wanting to feed and/or reward us for helping them in some way, riiiiight?"

The way Chichi's eyes suddenly lit up at the promise of additional rewards was all Ukyo needed to see that know the argument had finally been decided.

* * *

 **March 25, Age 757**

"Are you sure we need to visit this place?" Ukyo asked, looking about the rundown village they were hovering above. The past few days had been rather interesting and entertaining. They had already found two of the Dragonballs and were now on the trail for the third. But the place they'd just landed left her unsure. "This place looks like it's about to fall apart."

"Well, the Dragonball _is_ about three kilometers that way," Goku said, pointing off to the west and the large forest that lie in the area. "But I thought maybe we could help these people out. They look like they need some."

"Plus, it'd be nice to sleep in an _actual_ bed again," Chichi said from where she was seated in Goku's lap while he sat atop his Flying Nimbus.

"Mmm, that sounds nice," Shampoo purred with a slightly dreamy look. Although she may have grown up in the comparative wilderness, the comforts of normal society like beds and cushions had quickly endeared themselves to her. So, any chance to sleep in a bed or even a couch was a chance she was willing to take.

Snorting lowly, Ranma just rolled her eyes as she dropped down to the ground. She ignored the slightly gawking stares of the nearby villagers, many of whom were staring up at the hovering group with awe. Looking around, Ranma easily saw more details about the village now that she was in amongst it. Details like fire damage, tire skid marks likely from an out-of-control vehicle, numerous bullet holes in the walls, windows, and doors of the houses, and forlorn or depressed auras hanging around the people like a guillotine blade about to drop down on their vulnerable necks. ' _This place almost feels like the aftermath of a warzone. What's been happening here?_ '

As the others set down around her, an elderly villager moved forward who was dressed in slightly better clothes than the rest. "Hello, I'm Mayor Tonwon. Welcome to our humble village, strangers. What can we do for you?"

"Well, for starters, you could tell us what's happened to this place," Ranma said bluntly, still looking around at the damage. "It looks like a small war was fought here yesterday."

Mayor Tonwon winced slightly at that. "Not an inaccurate comparison, I'm afraid, young lady. Sadly, our little village is plagued by a bandit clan that lives in the forest over yonder. They frequently come to pillage and harass us, sometimes even enslaving us if they don't get enough 'tribute'."

"What?!" the girls all cried in disgust, anger, and disbelief. Ranma and Goku just narrowed their gazes into repressed anger. A shared glance between them was that was needed to know what both of them were already planning on doing before they refocused on the conversation.

"How long has this been happening?" Ukyo asked, moving forward alongside Chichi. "And why haven't you called for assistance, like from the army?"

"We have, I assure you," Tonwon said, looking at the ground sadly. "But we are too far out into the countryside and too small a village to be deemed 'important enough' for the army to be sent. Plus, this whole bandit problem has been going on for nearly ten years now and I've come to believe that the bandits may have been getting certain 'government sanctions' by this point. I'm afraid we're on our own."

"That means that certain people in the army are probably being paid by the bandits to _let_ _this happen_ to the village," Ranma whispered to Goku, guessing that he probably didn't understand what 'sanctions' meant. The man nodded in response, his slightly dark expression deepening.

"Hmm," Chichi hummed in consideration. But then she shook her head and reached into the bag she wore over her shoulder and pulled out one of their Dragonballs. "Excuse me, Mayor Tonwon, do you happen to know if anyone's found something like this recently?"

The mayor visibly blinked in surprise as he saw a slightly familiar orb held out before him. "Why, yes, actually. My son had found something like that about three days ago. Unfortunately, I had to give it to the bandits as 'tribute' so they wouldn't ransack my home again."

"Hey!" a voice from the crowd cried out. Rushing forward, a young boy came and pointed excitedly at Goku and Ranma. "I remember you! You're Son Goku and Son Ranma, right? From the World Martial Arts Tournament! Can I have your autographs?! Please?!"

"Auto-what?" Goku asked in surprise. He'd never been asked this question before, so was a little confused.

"He means he wants you give him a signature of your name on something," Chichi explained calmly, though her sharp eyes had caught the sudden widening of Tonwon's eyes.

"Ohhh, okay," Goku said smiling down the kid who started cheering happily. Babbling excitedly to his heroes, the boy grabbed Goku's hand and pulled him slightly off the side with Ranma following soon after.

"I've had a sudden thought," Mayor Tonwon said, earning the group's attention again as he gestured towards the Dragonball. "You are all traveling with the World Champion? That must mean that you're strong! Well, if you want my son's ball, then please help us! If you can stop these bandits and get our valuables back, I will give you the ball for free."

Smiling widely, Chichi stepped forward and called out so that all of the watching villagers could hear her. "Alright, but I will need an itemized index of all valuables so that we know what items are yours!" Almost immediately, all of the villagers, including the Mayor, turned and scurried off to compile their list of stolen goods. Chichi's smile turned noticeably greedy as she turned back to her group with air of satisfied smugness. "And we'll keep the rest of the bandits' loot for ourselves."

The Nerimans all blinked as a feeling of Déjà vu washed over them. Despite herself, Ranma leaned close to Goku, nudging him as she quietly hissed out, "You married a Nabiki."

As Ukyo and Shampoo restrained themselves from snorting and laughing out in amusement, Goku looked over Ranma as he asked, "What's a 'Nabiki'?"

"A money-grubbing wart!" Ranma, Ukyo, and Shampoo simultaneously answered, all wearing identical smirks.

"Hey, that's not very nice!"

* * *

 **March 31, Age 757  
South City**

"Okay, the last ball should be somewhere in this park area," Ukyo said, pointing to the large park that lay before them as she glanced up from the radar.

"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" Ranma was chanting excitedly as he sprinted forward into the park, alongside an equally excited Shampoo and Goku. "We're so close! _So close!_ "

Ukyo and Chichi watched the trio as they vanished into the underbrush, up among the trees, and running about the grassy area. Chichi let loose a low sigh of annoyance. "I swear, they're just like little children in a candy store. Ranma and Shampoo I can understand, but Goku too?"

"Yeah, they may be childish," Ukyo said, smiling and nodding to Chichi as she walked leisurely beside the woman into the park. "But that's why we love them."

"Oh?" Chichi said, turning a surprisingly impish grin towards her friend. "You really do love Shampoo that much?"

"Wh-What?!N-No! Eww! Hell no!" Ukyo cried out, giving Chichi a look that was a mix of disgust and embarrassment. "Why would you even say that?!"

"Welllll," Chichi purred out. "Given how much time you've been spending together tha—"

" _ **WHAT THE HELL?!**_ " Ranma's voice from up ahead cried out in shocked disgruntlement.

" _Oh, look!_ " Ukyo interrupted, speaking far too rapidly. " _Ranma's-in-trouble! Let's-go-see-to-that-and-return-this-conversation-never! Come on!_ "

Ukyo raced ahead of Chichi, doing her best to ignore the soon-to-be mother's following laughter as she hurried after. Up ahead, Ukyo spotted Ranma and Goku with their backs to her standing near a picnic table. Just from seeing his stiffened posture, Ukyo could tell that Ranma was very much alarmed and almost on guard. By contrast, Goku was standing there in relaxed confusion as he glanced between his brother and the two girls in front of them. At first, that was all Ukyo could see about them. But as she drew closer, she saw that Shampoo was busy giving the other lady a big hug and was chatting excitedly in Mandarin too quickly for anyone not fluent to understand.

Pulling up alongside Ranma by the table, Ukyo studied the new lady with contemplative interest, trying to see what had Ranma so alarmed about this lady. The lady looked to be in her mid-thirties, wearing a nice green cheongsam, a red hairband that kept her long blue hair out of her sparkling green eyes, and there was a traveler's bag resting on the table that was clearly hers as well. But what _really_ caught Ukyo's attention was that the lady was speaking back to Shampoo in Mandarin, something she hasn't heard since leaving Nerima. And why did that lady's voice sound so familiar?

"Ranma, who's this?" Ukyo asked as Chichi pulled up beside Goku.

"Ah, it's the chef," the lady said, now speaking plainly as she turned to give her audience her attention despite still maintaining her hug on Shampoo. "Hello, Ms. Kuonji. Or should I call you 'Mrs. Saotome' instead?"

"Wh- _What?!_ " Ukyo gasped out, surprise filling her as she finally recognized the voice. " _No way!_ Elder Cologne?!"

"Otouto, who is this?" Goku asked, looking questioningly at his recovering brother. Judging from his reddening face, Ranma was _not_ happy to see this lady.

Rather than answer Goku's question, Ranma barked out, " _Old Ghoul?! What are YOU doing_ _ **HERE**_ _?!_ "

Before even Goku could respond, the lady's arm lashed out and uppercutted Ranma, sending him flying into the air before landing in a crashed heap several paces away. Despite the frown on the lady's face, Cologne's eyes were twinkling in visible amusement. As were Shampoo's when Ukyo glanced at her. "Now, now, Son-in-Law, don't be rude! Besides, I hardly think that 'Ghoul' is an entirely appropriate descriptive word to use anymore."

Wiping away the slight trail of blood that was leaking down his lip, Ranma shot Cologne a glare as he bounced back to his feet. "What. Are. You. Doing. Here?"

"You didn't think your sperm donor didn't have _another_ method to reach this world?" Cologne shot back, a slight grin pulling at her face. "How do you think he found you the _first time_?"

As that question sank in, the Nerimans' eyes all widened as the implications finally started coming to them. "Wait, that means— _WHO'S ALL HERE?!_ "

Cologne's expression turned solemn and annoyed as she said, "The fool, the crybaby, crybaby's three girls, the lost pig, the blind duck, and your kunoichi."

"Wait, Konetsu's here?!" Ukyo asked, her eyes widening in surprise briefly before narrowing deep annoyance and anger.

"And, finally, most curious of all, Son-in-Law, your mother," Cologne finished.

"Mother?" Ranma repeated as his and Goku's eyes widened in surprised. "Wait, my mother's alive…? _That DICK!_ " The pure rage rolling off Ranma at that shout was somewhat surprising for the girls. "Where are they?!"

"The last time I saw them, they were settling down in West City," Cologne said. "I believe that the buffoons were planning on 'making a base camp' there before heading out to search for you. That was about two months ago."

"Great!" Ranma growled out. "Now I have to be on guard again for when _Genma_ shows up!"

"I wouldn't worry too much about that just yet," Cologne said, as she reached into her pocket. "See, before we arrived here, I stole the item that Genma was using to track you down." She idly pulled out a compass and held it out for the group to examine. At present, they could see that the needle of the compass was currently pointed not towards magnetic north but at Shampoo, who had finally pulled away from her ancestor. "Don't ask me how it works. I haven't yet quite figured that part out. On the bright side, this means that Genma and Soun will be searching blindly for years to come."

"Yeah, considering we live on the other side of the world from West City," Ranma grumbled lowly.

"Excuse me," Chichi interrupted now that she saw the heart of the conversation between them had finally passed. "But who is this person exactly?"

"Sorry, this is Cologne," Ranma said, gesturing to the lady as he looked over at her and Goku. "She's one of the matriarchs and leaders of Shampoo's old tribe, and Shampoo's great-grandmother. Although, how she got so young, I don't know! Last time we saw her, she was smaller than Krillin and at least 300 years old!"

"Is that a joke?" Goku asked as he stared at the comparatively young lady. "That sounds like a joke. There's no way she's over 300."

"300?!" Chichi shrieked out, surprise and respect written all over her face. "And you _still look like THAT?! What's your SECRET?! TELL ME!_ "

Cologne was positively preening under Chichi's yearnful and demanding glare, grinning wider than she has in decades. "Maaaggiiiiccc!" she sang back.

"Magic? No way!" Ranma barked back, glaring at her slightly. "Magic is way too fickle for something like this work! Not unless you…you… You made a wish on the Dragonballs, didn't you!"

"What? No. No way! Time-out!" Goku said imploringly, surprised and confused when he saw Cologne's answering grin. Digging into his bag, he pulled out one of the balls and stared at it in confusion. "But we've got the Dragonballs right here. They haven't been active since I made my wish last year. And Kami would've told me if someone had collected and used them before that."

"To summarize why: Multiverse Theory's a bitch," Cologne said, smiling mysteriously at their confused faces. "But that's a story for another time. Besides, I believe I have what you're seeking right now." Reaching into her bag, Cologne extracted the Six Star Dragonball and held it up to the group with a smile as all of their eyes lit up. "I knew if I held onto this that you'd find me eventually."

"Thank you, great-grandmother!" Shampoo purred as she gently took the ball. Turning, she asked, "Can we summon the Dragon now?!"

"No," Goku said sternly. "Not in the city. We'd probably scare everyone. Let's head out into the countryside first."

"Good idea!" Ranma agreed as a small smile started spreading across his face. "And I've got a new idea for my wish now!"

The journey out of the city was a quick one, despite Cologne's addition to their group. With Chichi riding along with Goku on the Flying Nimbus and Shampoo happily carrying Cologne, they flew out of the city and over to the far side of a nearby mountain that overlooked the sprawling metropolis. Despite her long years of experience, Cologne couldn't help from gawking in honest surprise for those first few moments of seeing and feeling her great-granddaughter flying over the land faster than a bird. "Oh, _marvelous!_ Absolutely marvelous!"

"It is fun, yes, great-grandmother?" Shampoo laughed as she glanced down at her. "Don't worry! I'll teach you how to fly when we get home."

"Truly?!" Cologne asked, her eyes nearly begging at the thought of learning such an obscure and closely guarded Secret Art.

Several minutes later, the group settled down on a cliff that afforded an incredible view of the mountain coast and ocean. But the beautiful scene was lost upon the group as they gathered up the Dragonballs into a cluster on the ground. As the group stepped back, Ranma held out his hand towards the wish-granting orbs and called out, "Eternal Dragon! By your name, I summon you forth! Shenron!"

Immediately, the skies around the massive island and South City darkened. The Dragonballs themselves started glowing a blinding golden light moments before a bolt of lightning shot upwards overhead. From that lightning bolt, a familiar green dragon came into being. With a thunderous rumble that sounded a lot like a growl, the dragon gazed down upon the group who'd collected his orbs. "I AM SHENRON, THE ETERNAL DRAGON! SPEAK, AND I SHALL GRANT YOU ANY WISH!"

Ranma's smile was every bit as wide as it was the last time he'd seen Shenron a year ago. "Shenron! I wish that all of the Jusenkyo water curses be removed! All _except_ for my father's, Saotome Genma!"

"AS YOU WISH!" Shenron responded, his red eyes shining brightly. After a few moments of waiting, the glow died down before the Dragon spoke again, "YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED. I BID YOU FAREWELL." Shenron dematerialized into a blinding golden light as the seven Dragonballs rose up onto the air. Once the balls had reached a considerable height, they suddenly split apart and shot off in seven different directions.

All was silent on the cliff for a moment. Then, Shampoo and Ranma started patting themselves. It was a strange sensation to them, now that their curses had been lifted off of them. It felt like a heavy weight they hadn't even known they'd been carrying had suddenly been lifted off their bodies and souls. So liberating, so freeing! So…So uplifting! Even without needing to be splashed again, both of them could feel it. They had truly and finally been freed of the curse!

Then the realization that the hardships they'd been facing finally over. Shampoo would never lose her clothes again. Ranma would never be hit on by horny guys again. Shampoo wouldn't have to constantly watch out for random dogs chasing her down the street. Ranma wouldn't have to ever again experience the _agony_ that was a woman's period. Shampoo wouldn't be pulled into a drunken stupor whenever _catnip_ was nearby. Ranma wouldn't be pulled into horribly embarrassing and perverted escapades anymore. And those were only _some_ of the problems they'd never have to deal with!

After just a moment of this quiet realization, Shampoo started laughing. Quietly at first, but it soon turned into a pealing full belly laugh that echoed off the landscape as she scooped up everyone within reach into a joyous hug. Ranma remained mostly still and stoic for the first few moments. But when Shampoo's happy laughter reached him, he turned to face the group with small smile on his face while tears of joy fell from his cheeks.

* * *

 **July 31, Age 757  
Son Family homes**

It was just about twilight when he dropped lightly to the ground, grinning over at Cologne as he approached the backdoor. The youthful tricentennial woman was standing upon a bamboo pole with her face scrunched up in intense concentration. As she had been attempting for the past month and a half, Cologne was again practicing how to fly with her ki. It seemed that despite being so much more experienced and stronger than everyone else, the old lady was having a tough time figuring out the proper means of channeling her ki the correct way to achieve lift. Ranma found it wonderfully ironic that it seemed that the older a person was, the harder it was for them to learn this Art.

"Keep trying, Old Ghoul!" Ranma called over cheekily as he opened the door. "You might get it in fifty years or so at this rate!"

Her only reply was to fling a pebble at him at high speeds, smacking him in his temple as he turned to hurry inside. Despite wincing in pain, Ranma's grin didn't wane in the least as he stepped inside and quickly changed out of his waiter outfit. That was their little deal. Cologne had been allowed to take up partial ownership and residency in the restaurant since her arrival here. This agreement allowed Ukyo a chance to sleep in during the mornings and give both young women some much desired privacy with their beloved, rather than having to censure themselves due to Cologne's presence in their home. Even Shampoo had been in support of Cologne living anywhere else! But, in return, the Son Family had to take up rotating shifts to help Cologne work and run the business, allowing the old Amazon to sneak off and have some of her own training times.

And today it had been Ranma's turn to waiter while Ukyo and Shampoo worked the kitchen. The girls were still busy closing up The Hungry Traveler when he left. "I'd give them another ten minutes. So, might as well get started on dinner!" he said to himself.

Opening the large walk-in freezer that they'd recently built, Ranma grabbed several slabs of steak and four bowlfuls of different vegetables before leaving. Mixing the vegetables together into a large pot with some water, he set them aside to boil, alongside an equally large pot of rice. Then he turned his attention to slicing the large steak into more manageable bite-sized chunks. Once done, he added them to the brewing stew as well. Next, he set about whipping up some buns. He always did enjoy having a few of those to munch on during dinner.

Unnoticed by him, the door opened quietly as Ukyo and Shampoo stepped inside. Both of them paused upon seeing him already readying dinner for them, bringing soft smiles of appreciation from them. Ukyo was about to approach him to help, but Shampoo caught her shoulder and beckoned her away with a shake of her head. Despite some initial confusion, Ukyo's eyes soon lit up in understanding as she nodded in agreement. Silently, both young women went their separate ways to change and washup for dinner.

"Hey, otouto," Dressed in some nice casual clothes, Goku called from outside when he saw Ranma walk past his open kitchen window. Earning his attention, Goku gestured over his shoulder to the picnic table. "Chichi wants to have a family dinner with everyone. You interested?"

"Sure, we can do that, aniki!" Ranma answered with a grin. "Just give me about twenty minutes to finish up here and I'll bring our portion over."

"Mmm," Goku nodded, smiling slightly as he picked up the scent of the stew through the window. It was almost enough to cause him to start drooling in hunger. His stomach wasn't nearly as subtle, growling loudly in a blatant demand for food. Both brothers laughed at that as Goku hurried back to try and help Chichi get the food ready.

Several minutes later, Ranma had just finished pulling the buns out of the oven and setting them onto a platter when a pair of slender arms wrapped themselves around his arms and torso. "Mmm, that smells good, Ranchan."

"Thanks," Ranma answered, trying very hard to stop his face from reddeningly slightly.

Things had started getting…awkward for him for the past few months. He had started noticing Shampoo and Ukyo in different ways than he normally did, having gotten to know them a lot better than he had, and finding them both to be very endearing in their own ways. But it wasn't just their characters and personalities that had started attracting his attention. The sight of them slowly maturing from awkward but cute teenagers into handsome and endearing young women for the past five to seven months had been playing havoc upon his self-control lately.

But what really drove him spare was when they did small, subtle things like what Ukyo was doing right now. Yes, it might not have been anything nearly as overtly sexual as like what they had done in the past, but it still sent his pulse racing. Little things like soft caresses, a gentle smile, an excited giggle, a long and slow stare from the side. Ranma was finally and truly starting to realize that Ukyo and Shampoo weren't only just young women, but very attractive young women who also wanted him.

After just a moment to regain his self-control, Ranma gently extracted himself from Ukyo's teasing embrace. Looking over his shoulder, he said, "Chichi wants a family dinner. Could you help move the food? It should be about ready by now."

"Okay," Ukyo nodded, moving forward around him to examine the stew. As she did so, Shampoo also walked past him, lightly trailing her fingers across his shoulders as she headed to collect the rice. Despite his self-control, a small shiver swept down his spine as his gaze shot over to follow Shampoo's movement, easily becoming somewhat hypnotized by the sway of her hips. Quickly shaking himself free of the trance he'd almost fallen under, Ranma gathered up the buns and another loaf of bread before turning and heading outside. He failed to notice the repressed giggles that both young women shared, having seen his discomfort to their subtle advances.

Outside, he saw that Cologne had finally managed to learn how to hover a few inches off the bamboo pole. "Hey, Cologne! Dinner's ready!" He grinned childishly as his call disrupted her concentration again, causing her to drop back onto the pole.

"You did that on purpose," Cologne growled, glaring at him.

"No, I didn't," he shot back as the young women started following him out. "See? Dinner really _is_ ready! Not get down here and help us!"

Although she snorted in annoyance at having a youngling order her about, Cologne still complied with the request. She was pretty hungry after all. Dropping to the ground, she hurried inside to collect the needed bowls, plates, and silverware. She arrived just in time to see the kids finish setting the table with the various foods and Chichi setting her young son, Gohan, in the high seat between her and Goku. The baby was watching everyone with the wide-eyed innocence of an infant, a slight line of drool dripping down one side of his mouth at the smell of so many tantalizingly delicious foods nearby. It was an adorable image.

"Oh! That reminds me," she said quietly to herself as she set the last of the silverware down. Turning, she rushed back into Shampoo's wing and grabbed the item she sought. Running back outside, Cologne quickly set up the tripod stand, facing the camera towards the table and the family around it. "Everyone! Get a smile ready!" she called, getting their attentions. Upon setting the timer, she rushed over to join the picture, taking up residence beside Shampoo. After just a moment of smiling, the camera flashed, and everyone clapped their hands together with a unified "Itadakimasu!" before digging into the buffet before them.

As Goku and Ranma struck up a conversation about ki theory and new kinds of attacks they'd been considering, Cologne glanced between Ukyo and Shampoo with a calculative gaze. ' _Something's going on here. Those two haven't made_ _ **nearly**_ _as many barbs or snarks at one another as they usually do lately. I wonder if they're up to something?_ ' In fact, right before her eyes, she watched as they amicably passed food between one another behind Ranma's back, which was actually the safest way to move it since it was that much farther away from his and Goku's sticky hands.

Later that night, as they were busy washing the dishes and Ranma was over helping Goku and Chichi with cleanup, Cologne walked into the kitchen area and bluntly asked, "What are _you two_ up to?"

The sudden and unexpected question caused both girls to flinch in surprise before turning nearly identical deer-in-the-headlights looks at her. "Nothing," they mumbled out reflexively, embarrassed flushes spreading across their faces as they saw Cologne deadpan and slightly impatient stare.

After several moments of awkward tension, she tried again, "I noticed that Son-in-Law seemed a lot willing and happy to have you two around. And there's the fact that both of you have been quite generous towards each other recently. Which, given your history, is very surprising and out-of-character. So, forgive me if I don't believe you."

Sharing a glance between them, Shampoo shrugged and Ukyo let loose a sigh in response before she answered the elder Amazon. "We've come to an understanding with one another."

"Oh?" Now this was surprising. Had they thought up new contrived scheme of some sort? "I see. Well, it's none of my business. But I'll just say now that I hope that you're not going to restart your earlier competitions again to get your husband. Believe it or not, you've already made remarkable progress at winning him over. It'd be a shame to see all of that come undone."

"We have a different strategy worked out now," Shampoo stated. There was still a happy smile on her face from when her ancestor revealed that it wasn't just wishful thinking on their parts. Ranma really _had_ been taking notice of them!

"Yeah, one which won't have any losers," Ukyo agreed, also wearing a small smile.

"Except for the violent girl," Shampoo couldn't help pointing out somewhat vindictively. Even after all this time and with the recent spurts of maturity she'd been going through, Shampoo _still_ found a primal pleasure in refusing to acknowledge her most hated former love rival by her name.

* * *

 **September 23, Age 757  
Mount Paozu**

It was the smoke of a campfire that caught his attention. Following the smoke trail like a ship lost at sea following a lighthouse's guiding beacon, he trudged along with the faint hope that the people or creatures around the fire might provide him some aid. His stomach was aching in hunger, but he ignored it gamely with the expertise of a lifetime's experience. Reaching into his pack, he tugged out his water bottle and tilted it over his parched mouth. Only half a mouthful of the life-giving liquid dripped into his mouth before running empty.

"Dammit! Need a refill soon." Thankfully, fresh water didn't seem to be in short supply around here since he could hear the familiar trickling of a small river or large creek nearby. And, as what little luck he had available, that just so happened to be where the smoke was coming from as well! Reluctantly, he put away his bottle and continued his trek, eyes never leaving the smoke trail.

"Where are you?" he growled out in a ragged, parched voice. "Where am I?" The two questions that had consumed his life in recent years were still burning hotly at the forefront of his mind.

Pausing, he lifted his nose and took a long sniff. Something _delicious_ was in the air. It smelled like roasted meat of some kind. The aura was so tantalizing that it made his mouth water and consumed his attention, his nose now guiding his footsteps rather than the campfire smoke. As he drew closer to the cooking meat, the quiet rustling of a small group of campers became steadily more audible, but his attention was still being directed to his nose rather than his ears. The smell…the promise of real food for the first time in almost a week… Mmm, he just had to have it! Even if he had to stoop to burglary or fighting the campers for their food, he needed something to eat! And he needed it yesterday!

Walking around large rock outcropping, his single-minded concentration on following his nose came back to bite him as he stumbled on some loose rocks, tripped, and stumbled forward past the trio of tents that had been set up and faceplanted right in front of the fire that the cooking meat was coming from.

"Hey, Ryoga," a distracted voice greeted as he pushed himself back up to his feet.

"Hey, Ranma," he answered distractedly.

It took a few moments for it register, on both their ends. But when it did, both boys immediately jerked their heads over to stare at the other in surprise. The first thing he saw was the one person he'd been seeking out for the better part of a year was finally, _finally, FINALLY_ found! Saotome Ranma had at last been found! The next thing Hibiki Ryoga noticed was that he wasn't alone either. Kuonji Ukyo and the Chinese gaijin were seated on either side of him, holding plates of steaming rice, vegetables, and that wonderful smelling steak as they stared at him with guarded expressions. Despite himself and his overwhelming loyalty to his girlfriend, Ryoga actually had to stop and stare in surprise at the two beauties the girls had become since he'd last seen them.

But where Ukyo and Shampoo were watching Ryoga wearily, fully expecting him to charge forward in a berserk rage, Ranma set aside his plate and popped to his feet, smiling widely with genuine happiness written all over his face. " _Ryoga!_ Hey, man! Good to see ya!"

For his part, Hibiki Ryoga's face hardened into one of determination, slight amusement, and more than a little giddy relief. _Finally,_ his revenge could be fulfilled! "I finally found you, Ranma."

"Hey, man, I expected to see you months ago!" Ranma repeated, still smiling widely as he moved around the fire to stand before his former rival and friend(?). "So, how do you like not being a pig anymore?"

Ryoga had been in the process of sliding into a fighting stance after dropping his backpack in preparation for attacking the worthless scum before him. He had waited and searched for him for _too long_ in this terrible wilderness of an even _worse_ world than their own to waste any time on small talk before grinding him into a bloody pulp in the dirt! But as his hated enemy's words and the implications finally registered in his one-track-mind, Ryoga froze before he could even raise a fist. "Wait, what? _That was you?!_ "

"Of course it was!" Ranma said simply, waving his hand slightly as he continued to smile. "I was getting rid my curse at the time, so I figured why not yours too? I'm fair like that!"

"B-B-B-But you're the whole reason I have— _HAD_ it!" Ryoga snapped back, floundering as his anger tried and failed to come up with a reason to stay mad at his enemy.

"In that case, I did the honorable thing and got rid of it for you!" Ranma shot back, his smile seeming to broaden at the memory of his wishing away the curses.

Ryoga found himself in an odd place. Stuck between overwhelming joy, anger, and confusion at Ranma's actions. Everything he knew about Ranma's character, all of the assumptions about his personality, all of the irrefutable facts he had long known to be set in stone, all of it started crumbling at Ryoga's feet as he tried to come to terms with something that he would've thought Ranma would've never done before.

Ranma either was blissfully unaware of Ryoga's fracturing worldview or was ignoring it as he grabbed the young man and guided him to take a seat around the large campfire. "Come, join us, Ryoga! Have you ever tried T-Rex steak before? Man, I can't describe just how awesome roasted T-Rex is!"

With his mind essentially having to do a major systems scan and reboot in order to properly process all of the data that needed severe revision, Ryoga was as compliant as puppet dancing on strings. It wasn't until he'd taken a bite out of the large slab of meat that had been given to him that Ryoga finally recovered enough mental faculties to participate in a simple conversation. Well, that and enjoy the surprisingly indelible meat! Ranma had been proven right; this really was some pretty good steak. "Yeah, it is pretty good."

"So, what can you tell us about what's been going lately?" Ranma asked eagerly, smiling beckoningly at Ryoga. "We've been out in the hinterlands for going on two years now. News reaches us _really_ slowly. Anything new happen? How are the Tendos? What's become the Kunos? Do you know what's happened in Nerima after we left?"

Ryoga still looked uncertain but decided that since his hated enemy had helped remove his curse, it wouldn't hurt to be somewhat civil for this meeting. "Ah, w-well, I guess the first thing I should tell you is that Akane and me are dating now."

"W-W- _ **WHAT?!**_ " Ranma, Ukyo, and Shampoo all gawked, eyes wide in shocked surprise. " _No way! FOR REAL?!_ "

"It's true!" Ryoga shot back, glaring at Ranma almost accusingly. "Why would I lie about that?!"

"Wow, you finally asked Akane out, huh?" Ranma said, eyes still wide but otherwise unbothered by the revelation. "I have to admit that I'm surprised, Ryoga! I did not see that coming at all! I'd have thought that you two would've been dancing around one another for at least two more years before Akane decided to just grab you and go on a date or something." Cocking his head as he brought his hand to his chin thoughtfully, Ranma gazed off into the distance as he started mumbling more to himself than the others, "Although, I wonder how you managed to get through to her. Akane hates any and all types of affection or attraction from the opposite sex. Kuno and the Hentai Horde definitely stained her opinion towards all men after all. Man, you must've been one hellva smooth-talker to get her interested this quickly… Huh…"

Ryoga, Ukyo, and Shampoo all watched for Ranma's reaction to that bit of news very closely. But, aside from a moment of surprise, he seemed to have had no visible reaction to it, which was very surprising and kind of telling. So, that being the case, Ryoga couldn't stop himself from commenting, "You're taking this news a lot better than I thought you would've, Saotome."

Even Ranma himself was surprised by his own lack of disappointment or heartache at the thought of his former fiancée dating someone else than he thought he should've felt. It wasn't until he'd put it into words that he realized the source of this. "Good for you, Ryoga! Honestly, I'm just happy that she's happy and moved on. Besides, it's better you than that asswipe Kuno!"

"Amen to that," all of the others agreed wholeheartedly.

"Also, don't call me that, Ryoga," Ranma chided, glaring slightly over at his old rival. "I'm not a Saotome anymore. That name is honor-less and has been nothing but a curse upon my life! I'm 'Son Ranma' now, younger brother of Son Goku and the third—ah, no, _fourth_ strongest person in the world right now."

"Fourth?" Ryoga asked, cocking his brow questioningly. "Only the fourth, eh? Okay, who're the other three?"

"Cologne's currently the strongest, but not by much," Ukyo said, not seeing any point to hide the information. "Goku's the second strongest, but he's closing the gap with Cologne quickly. Then there's Piccolo, Goku's rival and enemy. A big, mean, green demon who wants to kill Goku and Ranma, and rule the world. And then there's Ranma."

"Huh, interesting," Ryoga said quietly, taking in this new information thoughtfully.

"Anyway, Ryoga, what about the other Tendos?" Ranma asked, looking at his friend imploringly. "What's Kasumi gotten up to? Is she still a live-at-home housewife for Soun?"

"Last I heard, _nope!_ " Ryoga said with a fanged grin, again surprising the trio. "Shortly after you left Nerima, Kasumi left for college. Akane told me that Kasumi was pushing for a degree in medicine and becoming a doctor. And Nabiki was apparently looking for a university in business management. But…" Now Ryoga's expression darkened considerably. "But neither Kasumi nor Nabiki had wanted to come _here_. I don't know the exact details, but apparently Soun forced them to accompany us when we…made the jump, so to speak. After we arrived and got a house, Kasumi and Nabiki immediately left to look for jobs. Last time I spoke with Akane, the two of them had gotten their own apartments and have tried to continue their education. They don't speak to Soun much these days."

"Whoa…" Ranma murmured before his eyes narrowed angrily. "Soun actually _forced_ Nabiki and Kasumi to come with him into this world?! Doesn't he know just how _dangerous_ this world can be?! _What was he thinking?! WAS HE THINKING AT ALL?!_ "

"He clearly _wasn't_ thinking, Ranchan," Ukyo said bluntly.

"Aiyah!" Shampoo agreed decisively. "This sounds like something the stupid panda would come up with to keep the crybaby happy."

"That's what I thought too," Ryoga said, nodding in agreement with Shampoo's statement.

"What about Konetsu and Mousse?" Ukyo asked, looking rather uncertain that she wanted to know the answers to that question. "Cologne said that they came with you guys, but nothing about what's come of them."

"Honestly, I don't know what's happened with them either," Ryoga admitted, shrugging his shoulders as he took an idly bite from the cooling steak in his hand. "Mousse started yelling some grand speech about finding Shampoo and killing Saot—er, Ranma, before changing into a duck and flying off as soon as we arrived. And Konetsu just vanished into the city when I turned away for a split second."

"…Yeah, that sounds like Konetsu," Ukyo groaned in annoyance.

Talk dwindled after that as the group went back to eating or finishing their dinner. After he'd finished, Ranma had happily pulled up his own tent and moved it slightly to the side, granting Ryoga a bit of room to set up his own. It was the work of just ten minutes to get everything situated. Neither of the women were happy about Ryoga's presence since he'd essentially ruined their romantic camping trip with Ranma. But they kept their irritation to themselves after seeing just how jubilant Ranma was at reuniting with one of the few people he felt he had a bond with back in their homeworld.

Once he was done, the group gathered around the campfire. The girls tried to subtly cuddle up on Ranma's sides, but he was a bit more focused on stargazing and thinking over everything he'd just learned. Across from him, Ryoga was staring deeply into the flames, as though he was searching for some secret among the flames, wood, and ashes. Finally, after several minutes of mutual silence, Ryoga lifted his gaze to Ranma, "Ranma, how'd you remove the curse?"

"We collected the seven Dragonballs and wished on the Eternal Dragon to remove the curses," Ranma answered easily, grinning over at Ryoga as that cherished memory replayed in his mind again.

"Ranchan, why did you tell him about that Dragonballs?!" Ukyo demanded, looking between both young men in alarm.

"Because it's Ryoga, he's a good guy," Ranma answered easily, as though that was answer enough.

His quick response had also silenced the angry retort that Ryoga had been about to fire back at Ukyo. Now, the Lost Man's gaze was directed solely on Ranma's face in confusion. He was willing to share what was obviously important and secret information with his biggest rival and most dogged enemy just like that? What had Ranma meant by that? Did he honestly see himself so far above Ryoga that he didn't see him as a threat at all anymore? Or was it something else?

Gazing over the flames, Ryoga stared hard and searching into Ranma's grinning face. It was then, in that moment, that Ryoga had a sudden epiphany. That the person he had hated more than anyone else in this world or the last did not share the same view of Ryoga himself. That Ranma honestly saw Ryoga as a good person and maybe even as a friend.

Fumbling as his worldview was once again tilted and fractured beyond belief, Ryoga asked the first question that came to his mind. "So…what are you guys doing now?"

"Nothing much, all things considered," Ranma admitted. "Goku, me, and Shampoo are mostly just training right now. Ukyo, Shampoo, Cologne, and Chichi all work in this little restaurant and inn we built along the nearest road for some income. It's called The Hungry Traveler, by the way. If you ever come by it, drop by! Right now, I'm just waiting for the Dragonballs to recharge again in about seven months. I've got another wish I want to make. I want to become a Saiyan."

"And what's a 'Saiyan'?" Ryoga asked, now genuinely interested. Even Ukyo and Shampoo looked interested, since Ranma hadn't shared this with them yet either.

"I don't know all of the details, but basically a Saiyan is a super-elite alien warrior," Ranma explained. "They are best known for the furry brown, monkey-like tails they have which, under the light of a full moon, lets them change into a rampaging giant ape. Think of them as Space Vikings, Ryoga." Ryoga nodded slowly, frowning slightly as he stared at Ranma. While what Ranma was describing didn't sound good at all, he was sure that there was another reason for why Ranma would make this wish. Seeing Ryoga's reserved expression, Ranma shot him a knowing grin as he continued, "But here's the major reason why I want to make a wish to become one of them. They have this very interesting genetic trait; the ability to grow stronger after every battle, every injury, every time they come close to death and recover. After every time, they grow massively stronger! Can you imagine it?! The ability to potentially grow stronger constantly and with no upper limit to your skills and abilities?"

"Shampoo wants that too!" Shampoo cried out, her wine-red eyes wide and positively sparkling in a wild, lustful desire. "Airen, make Shampoo a Saiyan too! Oh! And great-grandmother too! Please?! Please?! PLEASE?!"

"Sure, okay." Ranma laughed as he reached out and rested his hand on Shampoo's head gently. Looking over at Ukyo and Ryoga, he asked, "Ukyo? Ryoga? You want that too?"

As Ryoga recoiled in surprise at the offer, Ukyo just shook her head, "Nah. Like I said before, Ranchan, my fighting days are over now. But thanks anyway."

"Wait, why are you including me?" The surprise and confusion were plainly evident on his face. After hearing what Ranma had said about these 'Saiyans', he had at first thought that Ranma was going to be selfish and keep it all himself. It's what Ryoga himself would've done! He always hated how Ranma had always seemed to be at least three steps ahead of him. So, if Ryoga had been the one in Ranma's shoes, he would've been frantic to keep this massive advantage away from him at all costs. For Ranma to actually offer him this, without any type of coercion or blackmail or bargaining, was mind-boggling! Why would he offer the person who hated him the most the chance to always keep becoming stronger?

"Because you're my rival, man!" Ranma said simply, as though the answer should've been blatantly obvious and he was confused to why Ryoga was even asking. "I want to fight you again when you're strong enough to challenge me again! And again after that! And again and again and again! So, neither one of us will stagnate!"

"You…You really mean that?" Ryoga shocked himself when he realized that he was honestly touched by Ranma's kindness and generosity.

"I wouldn't offer it if I didn't!" Ranma pointed out, a grin spreading across his face.

"Jeez, Ranchan," Ukyo groaned out in exasperation, rubbing her face as she let out a long sigh. "You are spending _way_ too much time around Goku! This is something I'd expect _him_ to do!"

"I…I need a minute to think about this," Ryoga mumbled aloud, retreating into his mind to do some heavy thinking.

Seeing the Lost Man zoning out, his companions shrugged and went back to what they were doing. Ukyo leaned over onto Ranma's shoulder, sneaking her hand over to grasp his. Shampoo leaned back and propped herself up on her elbows to gaze up at the stars, lost in thought as she tried to contemplate what changes she might undergo once she became a Saiyan. Based on what Ranma said, all Saiyans had a brown tail and changed under the full moon. Would that mean that she'd grow a tail as well? Would she be forever cursed to avoid the moonlight in exchange for unlimited potential? Or would she be able to avoid that since she didn't naturally have a tail to begin with? So many questions…!

Yawning slightly, Ranma stood up and crept over to his tent, much to Ukyo's disappointment. Before he zipped up the outer cover, he poked his head out and said, "Don't wander off before you give me your answer, Ryoga."

"Don't worry about that, Ranma," Ryoga said suddenly, his gaze snapping back into focus as he gave his…friend an almost begging gaze. "Yes, make me a Saiyan too."

"Okay," Ranma nodded with a smile. "If you find yourself suddenly possessing an appetite that's larger than normal, that means you've become a Saiyan. If Goku's anything to go by, then Saiyans can eat enough food to feed an army… Well, anyway, good night!"

* * *

 **April 1, Age 758**

"Ugh, that hurts," Goku groaned, cradling his throbbing shoulder as he slowly limped towards the backdoor of his house.

"I _told you_ not to use that move," Ranma chastised sternly, glaring slightly at his aniki in annoyance.

"I know, I know," Goku snapped back somewhat irritably. After a second, he calmed down and mumbled out, "But I honestly thought I could do it this time."

"It's not a matter of skill, but of compatibility," Ranma pointed out. "You _need_ to be able to have a completely calm and cool mind. But _you're_ just too hotblooded and excitable, especially in an intense fight, to do that. Besides, you heard Cologne, the Hiryu Shoten Ha isn't for everyone."

"I know, I know," Goku repeated, now pouting petulantly.

While he had been ecstatic at training with his brother again and learning a whole style of ki techniques based off of hot/cold ki, his exploration of this new style had been drastically stilted when it was quickly discovered that he didn't possess the proper or natural temperament needed to perform cold-ki. Where Ranma had excelled thanks to his impeccable ki control, Goku had stalled and stagnated quickly, which was very humbling to the World Champion. On the other hand, hot-ki came as natural to him as breathing. Not even the many special training tricks that Cologne knew could help him overcome this obstacle. So, in a last-ditch effort to see if he could just brute force the move to work, Goku decided to try and 'experiment' while in the midst of a spar and against Ranma's advice. Needless to say, he was now literally suffering the consequences of his poor decision.

Opening the door for his handicapped brother, Ranma waited for him to slink inside before following him and calling out, "Chichi, you got any ice packs ready?"

"There should be a few in the freezer," the young mother called from the dayroom where she was spending some of her little spare time bonding with the nearly-year-old infant Gohan. "What did he do this time, Ranma?"

"Tried to use a cold-ki technique with hot-ki," Ranma answered, already heading for freezer. As he tossed the ice pack over to Goku, he continued with, "That's the equivalent of getting a sunburn while shocked by a live-wire, and he dislocated his shoulder while doing it. So, Goku's on mandatory downtime for at least a week, which means _absolutely NO training_ , especially with that arm. Good luck with that!"

"Ranma!" Goku whined, pouting over at Ranma. He knew as well as his brother that now that she knew about it, Chichi would be watching him like Saiyan eyeing up the last slab of beef, ready to strike the moment he tried to 'misbehave'.

"Goku!" Chichi chided, hurrying into the kitchen with Gohan in her arms. She paused only long enough to hand her son over to Ranma before rushing over to inspect her husband's injury for herself. While the arm itself did have a light bit of reddened skin and clearly strained muscles, Chichi soon found that Ranma had been correct when he said that the arm had been dislocated. Thankfully, Ranma had already popped it back into place. But even with his rather heightened healing factor, Goku would still be out of commission for several days.

"Hey, little slugger," Ranma greeted, grinning as he held up Gohan, who was also laughing merrily. "How you doing today?"

"Un'ca Ra'ma!" Gohan squealed childishly, waving his hands in the air as his tail wagged excited behind him.

"AAaahh! Chichi!" Goku yelped as Chichi hit an especially tender spot during her ongoing examination and chastisement. "P-Please be careful! I'm still pretty raw and tender here."

"Come on, slugger," Ranma said, carrying Gohan back into the dayroom. "Let's leave the noisy adults to their business."

"That's hardly fair, otouto," Goku called after him, before returning his attention to reassuring and promising his wife that he would heed their advice to take a small break from training.

In the dayroom, Ranma found a collection of Gohan's favorite toys, building blocks, and stuffed animals. As soon as he set the kid down, the little rascal grabbed up the stuffed monkey doll and started waving it about like it was flying in the air. Grinning slightly, Ranma moved over and grabbed a green dragon doll and held it up over child, just barely out of reach, causing the boy to look up at it questioningly. Intoning his voice to be quite a bit deeper, he said, "I am the Eternal Dragon, the Great Son Ranma! Speak, and shall defeat every bad guy you tell me to!"

Gohan just laughed at both Ranma's funny voice and seeing the way he was bobbing the dragon in the air, like it was hovering. "E'ter D'gon!" Then he reached out for the dragon, using his monkey doll, hitting the dragon on the snout with the monkey's face.

"Oooohh!" Ranma moaned out in the same tone, feigning pain as he held the dragon's 'bloody' snout. "You have defeated me! The Great Son Ranma! In one hit! Ooohh, the pain!"

Gohan laughed some more before he set his monkey down and reached beckoningly for the dragon. Ranma obliged him and handed the doll to him, which Gohan embraced in a gentle hug. Smirking down at the kid's gentle nature, Ranma shook his in disbelief as he quietly mumbled out, "Hard to believe you're probably going to be one of the strongest fighters in a few short years, slugger. Where are you hiding all that potential?"

As he watched Gohan set the dragon aside, something clicked in his memory. Standing up, he moved over to the shelf by the hallway door, where he knew the radar was currently resting. Clicking it on, he smiled widely at what he saw. "Yes! Alright!"

"What is it, Ranma?" Chichi asked as she entered the hallway, in search of her baby. Seeing Ranma, she headed in his direction and soon found Gohan. Goku was just a few short steps behind her as she entered the dayroom.

"The Dragonballs are active again!" Ranma said, holding up the radar to show the seven glowing dots.

"Alright! Another adventure!" Goku said with a broad smile. "And this time we can bring Gohan along!"

"Absolutely not!" Chichi snapped, not quite yelling but speaking very forcefully. "Gohan's too young to go on one of those crazy adventures, Goku. And you're injured! Meaning you can't go after them anyway!"

"Besides, aniki," Ranma adds in before Goku could try to argue with his wife. "I wanted to go after them with _just_ Shampoo and Ukyo this time. Also, you're a dad now. You need to watch over Gohan."

Chichi shot Ranma a _very_ grateful smile for his support. The two of them didn't always agree on a lot of things, but when they did, Goku almost always backed down. But then her expression turned concerned as she asked, "What about the restaurant? It's starting to pick up these days, right? Are you really going to close it up again now?"

"Cologne's got it," Ranma answered easily, waving his hand dismissively. "She used to run her own restaurant at our old home, so I'm sure she can handle things for a few weeks. Plus, if you wanted, you could help her."

"But we don't have a hovercar," Chichi pointed out awkwardly. Ever since Gohan had been born and with her housewife duties keeping her home, Chichi had become a rare sight at the restaurant in the past few months.

"That's what Goku's for," Ranma countered. Then a grin lit up his face as a new idea came to him. _"Or_ you could have him teach you how to fly."

Chichi just stared blankly at Ranma for a few moments as this radical idea became known to her. Goku looked up excitedly, glancing between the two of them with a growing smile on his face. Finally, Chichi managed to find her voice again, "Fly? But…But my fighting days are over."

"So are Ukyo's," Goku chirped in, earning a somewhat surprised stare from Chichi. "What? It's the truth? She's not a fighter but she still knows how to fly. Besides, it'll be fun!"

For several moments, Chichi just stares at him, processing this strange new idea. On the one hand, it would probably take a while for her to learn this technique, especially since ki-control was never something she'd ever really learned in the first place since it wasn't something her father could use either. Plus, she'd have to build up her ki-reserves again, which meant starting up her training regime once again. That would mean that she'd have even less (if any) time to do any of her household duties. Then again, with Goku out of commission, maybe she could coerce him into helping out around the house more now? Maybe get him into the habit of performing certain chores and then keep him doing them even after he heals up enough to resume his training? And then there was the simple fact that training with Goku meant that they would be able to spend some serious quality together as not only husband and wife, but also as sparring partners. And Chichi knew better than anyone that while Goku submitted to her forceful personality, he respected her fighting prowess much more. So, training herself back up to be fighting fit could only be a good thing, right?

After a lengthy silence, Chichi finally sighed, "Fine. Goku, we start my training third thing tomorrow morning."

"Alright!" Goku cheered happily before pausing as what she said registered. "Wait, 'third thing'? What are the first and second things?"

Smiling a little too sweetly, she answered, "First: you're going to help me make breakfast. Secondly: you're going to help me cleanup after breakfast. And, _NO!_ This is _NOT_ up for discussion! Are we _clear_ , honey?"

"Crystal!" Goku agreed, without even pausing to try and contradict her. Chichi sent him a truly angelic smile in return, which prompted a considerable blush from Goku in response. Ranma quietly stood off to the side, barely restraining his chuckles as he watched Chichi manhandle Goku _yet again_.

* * *

 **April 15, Age 758**

"Man, I'd have thought I'd have felt… _different_ once I became a Saiyan," Ranma said, more to himself than his two companions.

"Aiyah," Shampoo agreed distractedly as she looked down at her fists, flexing them slightly as though hoping that such an action might incur some type of new response. "Shampoo feels no different either."

"Well, I'm glad that nothing's _physically_ changed about you guys at least," Ukyo stated, feeling a considerable amount of tension deflating from her frame. "Thank goodness neither of you sprouted tails because of this! I'd have hated to have had you guys transform into mindless giant apes."

"Yeah, that's definitely a plus," Ranma agreed, grinning over at her. "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I could definitely go for a late-night snack! There's a town nearby, right? Let's go get something to eat!"

"But, Ranchan, we had dinner about two hours ago," Ukyo pointed out, quirking her eyebrow.

"Yeah, and I'm hungry again!" Ranma said simply.

"Me too!" Shampoo added, her stomach starting to growl surprisingly audibly.

"…Fine," Ukyo groaned as they ascended into the skies and flew off towards where they could make out the lights of nearby town about three kilometers in the distance. That distance was barely a minute's worth of flight to them. "Ranchan, you said that large appetites were part of the Saiyan biology, right? Well, maybe that's why you guys are hungry already."

"Probably," Ranma said, nodding to her point. "I suppose it's a good thing that we made such a large freezer back home then. We're probably going to have to go hunting a lot more often now."

Setting down in the village's outskirts, the trio started walking towards what they could see was a nearby fast-food burger joint. But before they could even reach the front door, an annoyingly familiar voice cried out "SAOTOME! PREPARE TO DIE!"

Glancing behind them, they spotted a barrage of knives, spears, and shuriken rushing towards them. Ukyo and Shampoo reflexively sprung apart to opposing sides while Ranma turned to face an all-too-familiar sight. With a bored expression, he stood in place and waited for the slow-moving projectiles to reach him. As they approached, Ranma idly plucked them out of the air and stacked them into several neat piles based on the type of weapon they were. ' _I don't know if Mousse has any money on him and I don't particularly feel like having to pay to cleanup any damages he makes_.'

To his credit, the Hidden Weapon Specialist saw that his barrage was having no effect on his target and quickly halted it. So, he changed tactics, donning his scythe-bladed gauntlets and charging his opponent before he could adjust to the change in combat. Mousse had been training incessantly for the past two years, well before Ranma had kidnapped his beloved Shampoo and taken her to this horrendous, accursed world. He had been putting everything he had into mastering his Hidden Weapon Style, elevating it to the point where he'd never have to suffer another humiliating defeat like he did on that fateful day they left. There was _NO WAY_ Saotome could've been training anywhere near as hard as he has been. Mousse knew, he just _knew_ in his gut, that this time the fight would end differently! He'd _FINALLY_ be able to free his beloved Shampoo from this wretch's clutches!

Ranma quickly jumped to the side, taking the fight to a more open area to prevent any collateral damage. Mousse followed him single-mindedly, flailing his blades in wild and almost unpredictable swings. And yet, to his ever-mounting frustration and fury, he still sliced only air as Ranma dodged him with almost careless ease. In fact, the bastard was _smiling at him! He wasn't taking him SERIOUSLY!_

"Hey, man," Ranma greeted calmly as he sidestepped another swing. "That's a hellva way to thank me for freeing you from the curse!"

For just a split second, Mousse froze, staring at Ranma with a surprised gaze. Then his face darkened by a surprisingly great amount of rage. " _ **THAT WAS**_ _ **YOU**_ _ **?!**_ Because of you, _I almost DIED!_ "

That furious declaration actually brought Ranma up short as he stared at Mousse in honest surprise. Then his eyes widened as he realized something he'd overlooked. "Oh shit, were you flying when it happened?!"

" _YES!_ " Mousse yelled as he came to a stop, panting heavily. He could feel his arms starting to weigh heavily as exhaustion crept up on him. Despite his overwhelming fury, he lacked the necessary training to channel it and use it as fuel for his ki. He'd never needed it before and it was arrogance that led him to assume that he still wouldn't need it now. But as he gazed at his hated enemy, who wasn't even short of breath, he realized he still had a _lot_ of training ahead of him. But his exhaustion and panting didn't stop him from continuing his tirade against Ranma. "I fell and started getting attacked by people!"

"What?" Ranma asked, confused. "Why would they attack you? Wouldn't most people try to help a guy who fell from the sky and had probably gotten pretty hurt when he landed?"

"Even if he was naked," Ukyo added from where she and Shampoo were watching the fight from the rooftops nearby.

Seeing Mousse flinch, an impish smile crossed Shampoo's face. "Maybe it was _because_ he was naked that everyone attacked him…?"

"…Did you fall into an onsen?" Ranma asked bluntly.

"They called me a peeping tom!" Mousse screamed, not seeing any point in trying to continue hiding the fact now that it was out.

"Oooh, sorry!" Ranma offered, looking rather contrite as he said that. "But…you got away, right?"

" _I GOT_ _ **ARRESTED!**_ "

"Wha—? How'd you get arrested?" Now all three of them were confused, if also a bit amused. It'd been a while since something like _this_ had happened to any of them after all. "Couldn't you have fought them off?"

"I didn't have any clothes to pull my weapons out of!"

"Too-too sad," Shampoo said in a deadpan voice, not at all concerned for the troubles Mousse had endured. As far as she was concerned, he'd brought all of that onto himself by chasing after her _yet again!_

But Mousse didn't register her unemphatic response. All he saw was that _she_ was _here_. For the first time in almost two years, he saw her again and what a beauty she was becoming! She had been adorable as a child, pretty as a preteen, lovely as a teenager, but now she was easily the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. And it wasn't just his narrow-minded obsession that led him to this conclusion either. Having traveled _two_ worlds and multiple countries, he'd seen thousand, even _tens_ of thousands, of beautiful ladies before, and Shampoo was easily among the top fifty of them all, if not the top ten!

Thus, with his mind overcome by her maturing beauty, he completely failed to see the expression of disapproval and mounting anger on her face as he started yelling out, " _Shampoo, my love!_ Don't worry, I'll defeat this ignorant _brute_ for you soon! Then we can _finally_ go home and start our _family_ together!" Before she or anyone else could make a retort or say anything, he turned and resumed his attack, hoping to catch Ranma off-guard by his sudden return to hostilities. Much to his growing dismay, he failed utterly before he'd even started since Ranma fully expected such a dirty tactic from him.

As he was dodging and flicking away the blades with his fingers, Ranma asked, "You do know she is her own person, right?"

"Of course I know she's her own person!"

"Then you do know that this isn't a bad romcom or some boring shoujo manga," Ranma pointed out. "People can _choose_ who they fall in love with. And she didn't choose _you."_

"Ooohohohoh!" Mousse chuckled snidely. "And I suppose she chose _you,_ huh?! Well, I'm not gonna let her chase after some Playboy who's just gonna toy with her emotions, lead her on, bed her and dump her as though she's trash, before moving onto _another_ slut to chase after!"

"This coming from an Amazon?" Ranma shot back, glaring angrily at Mousse for those accusations that struck far too close to his personal honor than he cared to admit. "A people who like to use ridiculous tribal laws, cursed magical items, and love potions as they try to woo their intendeds?! You've got _some nerve_ comparing me to yourself!" Unnoticed by Ranma, Shampoo gasped, looking sharply at him and his angry expression as her eyes started to water and her face scrunched up. "If anything, _I'm_ the one who should be pissed at _you!_ Always attacking and blaming me for shit that was rarely, _if ever_ , my fault!"

Kicking out, he shattered the annoying scythe blades with next to no effort. Had Mousse not been a trained martial artist, that same kick would've easily dislocated both of his shoulders as he was sent stumbling away, gawking at his enemy. Ranma had never had _that_ kind of strength before! Where did all of this newfound power come from all of a sudden?!

Glaring angrily at Mousse, Ranma cupped his hands as he formed a Kamehameha, "I think it's time _for you to LEAVE!_ " The blast swept over Mousse, sending him flying off and disappearing over the horizon.

Snorting, Ranma spared the rapidly vanishing speck that was that annoyance no further attention. Instead, he turned and shot an awkward smile up at his two girl friends. "So…still hungry? I am!"

Ukyo and Shampoo dropped lightly to the street below. But where Ukyo approached Ranma with a smile, Shampoo hung back, her face downcast as a shadow seemed to darken her mood almost visibly. "Ai—Ranma?" The stutter and hesitant voice she used instantly caught both of their attentions, as did the line of tears trailing down her cheeks. "Do you…Do you really think that way about me?"

"Eh, wh-what?" Ranma asked, confused and concerned. He always _hated_ seeing girls cry, doubly so if he was the cause of it, and even more so if they were his _friends!_ "Uh…Wh-What are y—Oh! You mean when I—? No! Nononono! I wasn't talking about _you!_ You know me! I was just trying to piss off Mousse! I wasn't trying to hurt you!"

"But Shampoo was the one who used Formula 411," the Amazon pointed out, not reassured in the least. If anything, she was even more despondent.

"Ah, y-yeah," Ranma acknowledged feebly, admitting to the truth of that statement even as he knew what would likely happen as a result. "I-I mean, y-yeah, but you're not like that anymore!"

"But Shampoo was…"

"I think she'll need something a bit more convincing than mere words, Ranchan," Ukyo spoke up. Despite the seriousness of her statement and the delicate situation they were in, a hot flush was quickly starting to grow across her face as both of her friends looked over at her.

"What else could I do?!" Ranma asked, nearly begging since he was at a total loss for what he could do to salvage this situation and his friendship with the young lady in front of him.

"Well, you _could_ kiss her, you big dummy," Ukyo pointed out bluntly as a grin started spreading across her face.

As usual, Ranma turned instantly red and went into panic mode, flailing and stuttering, "I—Ah—But—You—What?!"

"GIVE!—HER!—A!—KISS!" Ukyo yelled loudly as she leaned into his face to help accentuate her choice of words and prevent any type of misunderstanding between any of them.

Ranma just stared at her for a long moment in dumbfounded disbelief. Glancing over at Shampoo, he saw that while she was still rather upset, there was a fast-growing blush of her own spreading across her lovely face. Turning back to Ukyo, Ranma couldn't help staring at her in honest surprise. Memories long ingrained into his psyche of the chaos he suffered from in Nerima because of these two chasing after his affections rose up into his mind. He vividly remembered the two of them getting obnoxiously jealous and angry whenever they witnessed him and Akane doing anything that could even be remotely conceived of as romantic. How could things have come about where it was almost a seeming reversal of that time? Where they were now goading him into kiss one another rather than themselves?!

After the few seconds needed for his mind to do a full systems reboot, Ranma cautiously asked, "B-But what about you…?"

If possible, Ukyo's blush deepened, but she pressed on resolutely, "Well, _obviously_ , I d-d-do expect a kiss as well!"

"Wait, I'm confused," he admitted shamelessly. "Why are _you_ helping _her_ —you— _I'm so confused!_ What's going on here?!"

"Simple, Ranchan," Ukyo said, now smiling softly up at him as she took a few steps back. "We're tired of fighting one another."

"Shampoo willing to have Co-Wife," Shampoo said quietly, earning a wide-eyed stare from Ranma.

"W-W-W-WHAT?!"

"You heard what she said, Ranchan," Ukyo said, grinning widely. "Now, _kiss the girl!_ "

It took a few more moments for Ranma to once again try to recollect himself mentally and adjust to the many startling revelations he had just endured. But when he did, he awkwardly reached forward, gently grasping Shampoo's shoulders and leaned in. Shampoo met him halfway, her soft lips pressing into his for a moment. Then, following an instinct he didn't know he had, Ranma's tongue eased out and flicked at her lips, requesting entrance. And Shampoo was all-too-willing to deepen the kiss as Ukyo stood patiently off to the side, grinning widely as their plan finally came to fruition.

* * *

 **April 16, Age 758**

Opening his eyes, Ranma yawned widely as he tried to weakly pull his unresponsive body back into full capacity. Normally, he was pretty early riser and could pop awake at the drop of a yen. Yet this morning, for some reason, he just felt sluggish, like he was mentally and physically trudging through molasses. ' _Wh-What happened last night? Why am I still so tired?_ '

As he tried to move his arms in an effort to push himself upright, he became aware of two strange but warm weights that were lying heavily alongside him. Looking down, he found himself staring at the two nude forms of his close friends and fiancées. And this sight easily sparked the vivid memory of the previous night's wild activities in high-def detail.

"Huh," was all he could say. But then, slowly, a content smile spread across his face.

* * *

 **January 1, Age 761  
New Tendo Dojo, West City**

Even with how long she'd been here, Nodoka still could barely wrap her mind around the fact that she, her husband, and the Tendo family were in what amounted to a 'fantasy story'. It was so drastically different, but also frighteningly identical to her homeworld that Nodoka was frequently finding herself starting to think of this place and the people here was real. That they actually existed and had thoughts, feelings, and desires as well. It was utterly bizarre. But it was also very disturbing for her since it brought out a side of her husband that she hadn't seen in a very long time, back when they were still just teenagers and barely knew each other.

Back then, Genma had been little more than a bully who used his martial arts to beat up kids weaker than himself, robbing them of their lunch money, and just being an all-around delinquent. Nodoka had truly hated him back then. But as they'd entered high school and started approaching adulthood, Nodoka had started seeing a side of Genma he never let anyone see before. That the reasons he'd acted out in such a way were because he was a lonely and penniless orphan who's only redeeming quality was that he was an adequate fighter. When she'd started dating him, Genma had rapidly grown up and overcome that foul and petty part of his personality, becoming a better man as a result. Nodoka had honestly thought that she'd never see that part of him again, especially after the birth of their dearly beloved son. So, when Genma had wanted to take Ranma out to train him to become the greatest martial artist in the world, with the seppuku pledge as his solemn vow of succeeding or die trying, Nodoka had had no compunctions to argue against him.

But it seemed that being forced into this world had brought out that foul side of Genma's personality once again. Not out of spite but necessity, she'd hastily reassured herself. After all, they needed money to survive. And while one of the many martial arts Genma and Soun had learned over the years was a silly but very useful style meant to build houses and buildings, it didn't solve the problem of income. That problem had forced her, Kasumi, and even Nabiki into the workforce in a desperate bid to get money for food and taxes, allowing Genma the chance to search for their missing son. That's not to say that Genma and Soun hadn't contributed. They'd quickly made names for themselves as unstoppable dojo destroyers, collecting the dojo signs as proof of conquest, and earning lots of prize money from small tournaments they participated in. But through it all, Nodoka had seen a steady decline of Genma's mental, regressing back to his teenage ways as he sought to sustain his wife and friend's family in the only way he knew how.

' _I hope he finds and retrieves Ranma quickly_ ,' Nodoka thought forlornly as she carried the grocery bags from the small hovercar's trunk and started walking up the small driveway towards the new Tendo Dojo. The new dojo looked practically identical to the one back in their homeworld, even though the dojo itself was substantially larger. But unlike back on Earth, this dojo saw a lot of enthusiastic students eagerly signing up for classes. Soun and Genma's exploits in the many tournaments and dojo crashing had done wonders to advertise the small fighting school's Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū style. Last she heard, the Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū had started getting eager challengers from as far away as North and Central Cities and Soun had become the proud reigning Grandmaster of the Tendo Style for almost a hundred students.

Even now, she could clearly hear Soun leading a class of 25 students through a series of basic kata. The sight of that had brought a smile to Nodoka's face. While she had been saddened to learn of Soun's decline back in Nerima, and even though this was a fantasy world, it was still invigorating to her to see her husband's friend starting to become reenergized and enthusiastic about training disciples again. It would seem that while this fantasy was bringing out the worst in her husband, the opposite was true for Soun.

Entering the house, Nodoka quickly set about putting away the foods, cold and frozen items first. As she was doing that, she frowned as she saw that there were still a couple of old leftovers wedged into the far corners of the refrigerator. She'd hoped that Soun or Genma would've eaten those by now, but it seemed they'd either forgotten or procrastinated too long. Nodoka couldn't help sighing in regret at yet more food being wasted. Try as she might, she just couldn't compare to Kasumi as a cook and it was a real shame that the lovely young lady had moved out several months ago. Things just weren't the same around the house or dojo anymore.

RRRNGGG! RRNNGG! Moving quickly back towards the front door, Nodoka called out, "I'm coming! I'm coming!"

Swinging open the door, Nodoka looked up at a tall, dark-haired young man that stood before her at the house's threshold. His blue eyes widened slightly as he stared down at her, seemingly surprised to see her. Nodoka used this small lull to look over the young man. He definitely had the look of a martial artist about him. Besides the red gi he wore under a simple blue jacket, she could also see the pronounced bulges of large muscles running along his arms and legs. If there was even an ounce of body fat anywhere on his body, she couldn't see it. All in all, he was most assuredly a very good-looking young man.

"Hello, welcome to the New Tendo Dojo," Nodoka greeted, reciting the greeting that had become rather common to her nowadays. "If you're looking to challenge the Grandmaster, I'm afraid you'll have to use the side entrance to the Dojo itself, please."

Visibly shaking himself, the young man smiled slightly down at her. "I'm sorry. I'm not here to see the Dojo Master. My business is a bit more personal. I wanted to meet you, Mrs. Saotome."

Blinking in surprise, Nodoka took a step back to try and study the young's features more closely. Now that she was looking, he did look rather familiar. In fact, he strongly resembled Genma back when he was a young man still. And this resemblance caused Nodoka to freeze up momentarily. "I…I'm sorry, but… Do I know you?"

"I hope so," the young man said with a slight, almost teasing smile. "I'm Son Ranma, formerly Saotome Ranma. You're—"

"Ranma!" Nodoka cried out, lunging forward and sweeping the young man into her arms, hugging him with all of her strength. "Ranma! You've finally come back!"

"I…I have, mother," he stuttered, clearly surprised by the unexpected hug, but happily returned it regardless. Pulling after a few moments but still keeping his own arms around her, he stared down at her searchingly, just as she did him. "We have a lot to talk about, mom."

Nodoka was just a hair's breadth away from embracing him again. But those words sparked her memory and caused her to gently step back out of his embrace as she looked down at the ground for a moment. When she raised her eyes back up to look at him, there was clear stern disappointment and reproachful anger in them. "Yes…Yes, we do, son… Come, come inside, please and we'll talk."

Closing the door behind them, Ranma followed Nodoka through a familiar house layout to the washitsu. There, Nodoka took a seat on one of the cushions and waited for her son to take his. He was in the process of doing so but faltered to a halt. He narrowed his eyes angrily as he looked over to the side, staring almost unseeingly through the sliding outer door of the room. Just as she was about to ask what was wrong, the door he was glaring at slid open to reveal a ruffled and dirty Genma. The fat man was still fat, but not nearly as much as he had been when they'd arrived. Life on the road and constantly getting into fights at the various dojos and tournaments had really slimmed him down, though he was still quite burly.

"Hello, Nodoka-chan," Genma greeted, not immediately noticing the young man in the room. "I'm back. Sorry I'm late but…but…I…Ranma? RANMA!" Before Nodoka could utter a word, Genma immediately shot forward for Ranma with his fist cocked back, eyes alight in righteous fury as he yelled, " ** _YOU'RE IN BIG TROUBLE, BOY!_** "

But before the two could close the distance, Nodoka stepped forward between them with a fierce glare on her face. "No fighting!" Both men froze immediately upon seeing her expression. After several long second, both of them eased out of their fighting stances. Despite the ceasefire, they continued sending angry glares at each other. At least they were until Nodoka rounded on Genma.

"Genma!" she said reproachfully. "We spent all this time searching for him and the first thing you do is attack?!"

It was a very odd sight to Ranma to see his father visibly wilt under his mother's angry voice and glare. And it brought an immediate smirk to his face. Finally, after so long, he had finally found his father's weakness! Unfortunately for Ranma, Nodoka spotted his smirk as she turned to face him next. "And you! You should _know better_ than to fight someone of your father's caliber in an enclosed space! This isn't just _OUR_ house."

The way she stared pointedly at Ranma left no room for confusion just who else she was including in the 'our' of her statement. And it brought a frown to his face as he grunted out, "He _ain't_ my old man anymore."

"Ranma!" his mother snapped reflexively. "Show respect to your father!"

Ranma was momentarily taken aback at having his own mother say one of his father's most favorite lines. It was a pause that Genma pounced on, moving around Nodoka and grabbing Ranma by his shoulder. "Dear, maybe I should have a _word_ with him? After all, there are some things that we need to _talk_ about in private." His aggressive glare at Ranma was lost on no one as he started pulling his son towards the doorway he'd just entered from, heading back outside.

Despite having stopped them from fighting, Nodoka nodded her head in agreement with Genma. She didn't mind if they fought one another, just that they didn't do it _inside_. So, that being the case, she returned to her earlier spot on the cushion to patiently wait for their return.

Outside, Genma walked Ranma towards a far corner of the backyard, well out of Nodoka's easy hearing range. Once he judged them safe enough, he spun and hissed out, "Boy! We _cannot_ have her find out about your curse!"

Of all the things he'd expected Genma to say, this had not been one of them. It was enough to stall Ranma's initial retort as confusion warred with anger in his mind. After several seconds, curiosity won over his desire to just punch the stupid panda in the snout and be done with him. "Oh really, old man?"

"Yes, and it's a matter of grave importance!" It was honestly surprising to see just how incredibly serious Genma was acting in that moment as he stared sternly at his estranged son. "See, back before we left for our training journey, I had made an agreement with Nodoka. A signed contract of honor. I swore to train you to become the greatest martial artist in the world, a man among men. But should I have failed in any way in this contract, the penalty of breaking it was that you and I would have to commit seppuku."

It was almost on instinct that Ranma sunk himself into the Soul of Ice when he heard that. If he hadn't, Ranma would assuredly have blasted Genma into a gory blood splatter all over the grass and far wall. Assuming he didn't just rip his arms out of his sockets and start beating him to death with his own limbs! Or any other innumerable ways he could inflict maximum pain on the man before outright killing him, and accidentally killing any number of innocent bystanders in the process. Thanks to the Soul of Ice forcefully keeping him calm, he was able to speak relatively easily and clearly, "So, let me get this straight. You not only sold my hand in marriage to who knows how many women, but you've also gambled _my life_ on **_YOUR_** sense of honor? If I was still a Saotome, I'd be doomed."

That statement sparked Genma's fury almost instantly. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT A SAOTOME?!"

"I found a real family while I was here," Ranma said bluntly. "And they don't try to sell me off at the drop of a hat for stupid reasons. I'm a Son now."

" _Boy_ , do you have _any idea_ of the _DISHONOR_ you're bringing to my— _YOUR_ family?!" Genma yelled, his face rapidly starting to redden as rage set in.

"Pretty sure _my family's_ honor is intact," Ranma shot back, completely unmoved. "Your family? Well, I'm pretty I couldn't have done a worse job than you have."

"Boy, you're starting to sound like a _whiny GIRL!_ " Quick as a flash, Genma reached into his own ki space, pulled out a bottle of water, and splashed his son in the face while drenching his shirt and jacket. Trying to take a more noble stance, he'd closed his eyes as he'd splashed his son and then returned the bottle to his pocket before crossing his arms while lowering his face in a remorseful posture. "If Nodoka saw you like _this_ , we'd _both_ have to _kill ourselves_. So, just do what I say and we _both_ might just get out of this alive."

Keeping his eyes closed, he nodded decisively to himself, knowing that he'd cowed his now-daughter into submission due to her lack of a reply. "Now, let's just get you _married to Akane_ and we'll be good! Nodoka _can't_ say you're not manly if you're _already married_."

"You ruined my shirt," a familiar voice said lowly.

Genma's eyes finally snapped open. What he saw wasn't that horrendous headful of red hair that his daughter always had when she was in her curse form. Instead, he saw that Ranma still had black hair. He was still a he! W-W-What the fuck was this?!

"My wives gave me this shirt," Ranma continued, still speaking lowly as he looked down at the flash-frozen hunk of ice that covered his shirt's chest and small parts of his open jacket. Looking into his still-miraculously son's eyes, Genma sputtered and flinched away as he saw the deadened gaze in those blank blue orbs. That was a very distinctive trait that he'd only ever seen his overly-emotional son possess whenever he'd entered that Soul of Ice trick the Old Ghoul had taught him. And if he was using it now…

' _Oh shit_ ,' began running on repeat in Genma's mind. But despite his rising panic, he managed to keep enough mental composure about himself to speak, "Ah—Eh, wh-wh-what?! Wait, _no! HOW ARE YOU **STILL A BOY?!**_ "

"It's silk," Ranma said, slowly raising his gaze off his frozen shirt to stare up at Genma. "Shampoo wove it herself. And Ukyo did the embroidery."

Finally, a spark of life reignited within Ranma's eyes and Genma _knew_ what was coming next. But as he was turning to flee, Ranma's hand lashed out and grabbed him before he could vanish under the Umisenken. Maintaining his grip on Genma's upper arm, Ranma drew back his other arm and began raining furious blows remorselessly down upon the cowering and struggling man he held captive. After just a few moments, Genma had been knocked unconscious with his face bleeding and promising to swell up into a massive cluster of bruises.

Turning, Ranma made his way back towards where he'd left his mother, dragging the unconscious man behind him like a sack of potatoes. Entering and closing the door quickly to keep the heat inside, Ranma tossed Genma's body beside Nodoka's seated form. As she stared down at it with a surprising amount of calmness, he simply said, "We had a disagreement. I won. I'm sorry for troubling you, Mrs. Saotome. But it appears that I've come to the wrong place."

Seeing Ranma turning to walk away and leave, Nodoka cried out, "Wait! Ranma! You're—a—a— _SHIRT!_ You can't go home like _that!_ You'll _catch a cold!_ Let me wash that for you! And we can talk while we wait."

It was obvious to both of them that Nodoka was floundering for any conceivable excuse to keep him there. But as he looked at her wide and pleading eyes, Ranma found he really didn't have any reason to deny her this request. "…Fine. But _HE_ stays out of it."

Although a small frown crossed her face at her son's desire to exclude Genma from their conversation, she was too desperate to really care too much about it. She easily agreed after just a moment of hesitation.

* * *

Nodoka stood before the drying machine, staring down at the shirt that her son had handed to her. It was a lovely red, handwoven silk shirt. Along the upper back of it were a series of golden dragon embroideries that spelled out a very stylized version of the word 'DAD'. It was simple but wonderfully made. She could easily see why he quite liked this shirt. But the part that pricked at her brain was the 'DAD' sewn into it. After a moment, she shook her head and gently placed the shirt into the drying machine, grabbing one of Genma's spare gi tops as she was leaving the room.

Back in the washitsu, she found her son pouring some tea into a pair of cups set out on the table. Much to her surprise, he was already wearing another shirt, this one just a simple red gi. Shrugging to herself, Nodoka laid the unneeded gi aside as she took her spot across from her son and gently grasped the teacup. Blowing softly on it, she took a small sip as a means of stalling while wracking her brain in a frantic desire to come up with something to say. ' _Ok, this is my first time in over a decade to speak to my son. Say something good! Something to get him to stay!_ ' "Aah, this is nice tea." ' _Dammit, brain!_ '

Ranma chuckled lowly as he too took a sip. "Did a stint with Martial Arts Tea Ceremony once. It kinda stuck."

"Ah, that's…interesting," was all Nodoka could think to say.

An awkward silence fell between the two as they shot curious but bashful glances at one another. This silence only lasted a minute or two before Ranma decided to break it, "Look, we have way too much to talk about. So, why don't we get the highlights out of the way? What do you want to know?"

"Why did you run away?" Nodoka asked bluntly, her gaze focusing intensely upon him now.

"Because Genma's an asshole," Ranma answered just as bluntly.

"You shouldn't talk about your father like that," she said automatically.

"You weren't on the training trip," Ranma countered. "Hell, I didn't even know you were _alive_ until a few years ago. And that's the only the tip. When I thought he was the _only family_ I had, it got to be too much."

"What do you mean by too much?" Nodoka asked, confused.

"He sold me. _A LOT!_ " Ranma said. "I think the cheapest he ever sold me for was for two pickles, some rice, and a fish."

"Eh…what?" was all she could think to say to that.

"The most exorbitant time was when he sold me to the Tendos," Ranma continued blandly, as though he were talking about the weather. "He gets a dojo out of it after all!"

"Wait, wait!" she was floundering now, trying to understand how any of what he was saying could at all pertain to the young man she'd once known her husband to be. "You mean by 'sold' that he engaged you?"

"Eh, engaged, sold, traded, there was no real distinction between any of them." How could Ranma still be talking so calmly and blandly like that? "Except for one. The only one he seemed to _want_ to honor was the one with the Tendos."

"That is…" Now Nodoka nearly was at a loss for words. "Well, I'll be having words with him… But that is still no reason for you to have ran away. To a _fantasy_ world, of all places!"

To that statement, a deep and angry frown spread across Ranma's face. If not for the fact that this was his mother and he really wanted to connect with her somehow, he'd immediately sunk back into the Soul of Ice to protect himself from a potentially emotionally bad episode that was likely to occur. "What part of this is a fantasy?"

"How about the kemonomimi?" Nodoka said, now speaking as blandly as he had been. This should've been pretty _obvious_ , right? "The dog for a President? The dinosaurs? That this entire world is based off a manga?"

"And they all still bleed."

"Wh-What?"

"The people here," Ranma clarified when he saw her confusion. "They bleed. They have lives. They have jobs. They go home to their families. There're things in this world that Akira Toriyama never put into his manga. This _is_ another world. And the people here are just as real as they were back home."

"B-B-B-Be that as it may, you still shouldn't have run," she had just been knocked onto her back foot and she didn't like it!

"Maybe I shouldn't have," Ranma admitted, nodding slightly "But I had— _have_ a life here. One Genma hasn't managed to completely screw over. I have a brother. I have a great martial arts master. I have friends who actually _like_ me, even if one of them is a desert-dwelling bandit. I've got a family. I won't let Genma take that away from me _again!_ "

"A-A-Again?"

"I guess he didn't tell you _that_ part either." There was a definite lack of surprise in his tone when he said that. "This _isn't_ my first time here in this world. The first time was a _complete accident_. I at first tried to get back home. But I found that I was… _better_ here. Better _life_ , better as a _martial artist_ , just _better_. I still wanted to find a way to get back to the old world, but it was more to bring back what I _cared about_ there to here where it could just be _better_. Hell, I even found a way to do it. And Genma… _Genma ruined that_."

"What do you mean he ruined it?" Nodoka looked like she already had a pretty good idea but was fearful having her suspicions confirmed.

"Would you consider it a good thing for a father to brainwash his son after breaking his arms and legs?"

"No! That would be horrible!" was her immediate reply.

"That's about what Genma did to me, except about 20 times worse," Ranma stated, crossing his arms resolutely. "He stole _years_ away from my life! I was practically an idiot! I _regressed_ back to being a _9-year-old child_ in a _teenager's_ body! Then he drags to _China_ and back before saying ' _Guess what, boy! You're getting married!_ ' It was finding out that he did _that_ that I can't forgive him. I can't _trust_ him for that."

"That is…I don't know what to say!" and she really didn't at this point. This was far worse than anything she'd ever seen or heard of him doing before.

"There isn't much to say," Ranma shrugged. "Other than it destroyed any hope I might've had about considering him family."

"…What about me?" the fear and uncertainty were plainly obvious her soft voice and expression.

"I'm…hoping that'll be different," Ranma admitted just as quietly. "I don't know you. And as far as I know, you haven't done anything to me. I'm hoping that that means that maybe, well, I _can_ still get to have a mom after all this time."

A moment of silence fills the air around them as Nodoka sinks into her own thoughts. She ponders on Ranma's words, comparing them with what she remembered of her husband. Thinking back on what she remembers of Genma's stories and his darker side. After only a few moments, she reluctantly realizes that she agrees with Ranma. Back when he was still a delinquent, Genma could've very well sunk to such terrible lows. So it wasn't a stretch for her to see him potentially do such things. "Very well, I can understand why you'd run away from Genma. But running away from an honor pledge is something else entirely."

"Can an honor-less man make an honor pledge?" was Ranma's instant retort and challenge.

"That…That is…This is different," Nodoka stated, once again recoiling from being put on the back foot _again_.

"Different how?"

"It's not just your _father's_ honor," she pointed out. "It's the _Saotome_ honor that's at risk. As well as the Tendos."

"Then it's probably a good thing I ain't a Saotome anymore," Ranma said, picking up his fast-cooling tea and taking a long drink of it. "I'm a Son now."

"…You'd turn your back on your family?" Needless to say, Nodoka was _very_ shocked by his coldness towards their family.

"My family turned their back on me _long_ before this," Ranma said automatically. But then he seemed to realize just what that implied and quickly floundered as he scrambled to try salvage things. "Or—Or, at least, my _father_ did. When I made this choice, I _didn't_ know you were still alive. And, well…This is horrible to say, but I didn't think much of anyone who'd willingly lay with _Genma_."

Nodoka actually flinched quite visibly in shock when she heard _her own son_ say that!

"Hell, for a while," Ranma continued, not seeming to notice her distress. "I thought I was just his bastard from a random whore."

"You'd…say such things about your mother?" If she hadn't had such tight emotional control, Nodoka would've crying very hard.

Thankfully, Ranma seemed to realize what he'd said and how she was clearly taking it. "I mean…Look, Genma didn't give me the best impression. So, I…I tried to imagine what someone would marry a thieving, lying, cheat of a scoundrel like him would be like, and it didn't paint a very good picture. I mean, the best I came up with once was a Yakuza princess."

' _From his own point of view_ ,' Nodoka realized that was what her son was trying to say. He had unintentionally been judging his mother based off the standards he'd seen his own father set after all. As these revelations hit her, she was able to start somewhat calming herself down. ' _He does have a point, from his impression of Genma_.' "Be that as it may, you still shouldn't have run from an honor pledge."

"Okay," Ranma nodded as he set his teacup down and looked questioningly over at her as he asked, "Then which pledge should I have honored then? I had at least _three_ of them with me constantly while we were in Nerima, with random ones showing up at least once every other week. At least, on the weeks that Akane _wasn't_ being kidnapped."

Nodoka felt herself flinch again. She had become quite aware of those little…issues after she met up with her husband and the Tendos several years ago. To say that she had been displeased would've been an understatement. In fact, those many different marriage agreements were still a point of contention between her and Genma. But it was thankfully one that they could safely shelve in the 'out of sight, out of mind' category. After a moment to recollect herself, Nodoka said, "But the Tendo pledge came first."

"Soooo," Ranma drawled out as he leaned back slightly with a narrowed gaze. "I then have a choice between a girl I considered a big sister, ruining my best friend's relationship with the youngest sister, or heartless mercenary? Yeah…I don't think I have a lot of good choices there. To say nothing of the fact that I'm _already married_."

Suddenly, the decorative 'DAD' on the back of his shirt made a _LOT_ more sense to Nodoka. A warm and extremely happy feeling started bubbling up from her belly and filled her heart as she gasped out, "I…I have grandkids?"

"Yup, two of them," there was a proud smile Ranma's face when he saw that. "Energetic little tykes too."

Pulling out his wallet, Ranma dug through it momentarily before picking out a picture and handing it over to the unknowing grandmother. Taking the picture gently, as though it were some delicate pane of glass, Nodoka stared down at the two baby boys that the Ranma in the picture was holding in each arm. Reaching forward, Ranma tapped one the photo over one of the babies. This baby had such a very dark brown hair that it was almost black in color and blue eyes like his father. Somehow, the child had managed to get ahold of his father's pigtail and was happily sucking on it. "That's Hayato and this one's Kouma." The second boy's hair was quite different, an almost vibrant dark blue color. His wide and sparkling purple eyes were just as expressive and joyful as she clearly remembered Ranma's being at that age. This little guy had been caught in the process of punching his father in the cheek while seemingly crying out in triumph at the hit. And despite how utterly humiliating the picture might've seemed to anyone else, Nodoka clearly see the sparkling joy and pride that was lighting up her son's eyes when the photo had been taken. It was obvious to her that he was _incredibly_ happy in the picture.

"Twins…" she whispered in joyful disbelief.

Chuckling softly, Ranma shrugged, "Yeah, you could say that. They were both born on the same day."

"I…What about your wife?" By this point, any thought of family honor and fulfilling her husband's pledge had completely flown out the window. She was a already a grandmother! But who was the mother? She must've been something really special to have caught her wild son! "Let me see her!"

"Eheheheheh," now his happy chuckles had turned a slight bit uneasy as he started rubbing the back of his head. "That is…Um… To say…Ehhh…"

Seeing him distracted and uncertain, Nodoka decided to finally take charge of the situation. She snatched his wallet from his hand while he was still distracted and started rifling through it. Finding a small collection of photos inside, she dug them out and started looking from one to the next. And at the top of the stack she found what was clearly his wedding photo. He was dressed in a white tuxedo and had two truly lovely young ladies standing at his side. The two young women were both holding one of Ranma's hands while also reaching in front of him to grasp each other's spare hand, symbolically tying all three of them together. It might've been weird but all of them were smiling widely in happiness as the picture was taken. That photo, along with several other pictures with both girls and his two sons in them, brought to light a surprising conclusion for Nodoka, "You…You have _two_ wives?"

"Ehhh…" was all he managed to utter for a few moments, trying very hard to look anywhere but at his mother for fear of seeing anger in her expression. "It was a… _very_ awkward arrangement."

After several long moments of staring at her profusely blushing son, she finally asked, "Are you happy?"

"Yeah, _we_ are," he acknowledged, finally working up the courage to look her in the eye as he said that.

Nodoka nodded briefly before turning back to the photos. Towards the bottom of the pile, she came across a picture that had not only both of her grandsons, but another child who was about the same age as them. "Who's this little boy?"

"Ah, that's my nephew, Gohan," Ranma answered easily, grinning down at the picture she held.

"Oh, right, you mentioned a brother," Nodoka said, finally really starting to understand what that implied. "Is there a picture of him?"

"Eh… You're kinda looking a good representation of a chibi-version of Goku, honestly," Ranma said, unwilling to admit he didn't have one of Goku but also unwilling to disappoint his mother. As she continued gazing at the picture of the three boys, he smiled softly as he hesitantly asked, "Do you want to meet them?"

" ** _YESSSS!_** " Ranma flinched back in surprise at how incredibly loud and empathetic Nodoka's immediate response had been.

"Heh, well, I guess we might as well go as soon as my shirt's dry," Ranma said, smiling down at his mother. His sons and his family were going to love having Nodoka join them. He just knew it!

* * *

( **Author's Note** ) Huh, this chapter was surprisingly enjoyable to write, even if most of it was exposition and filler. Now, I know some of you are going to have some very strong opinions about what took place in this chapter. Well, here's my list of reasons for some of the most likely subjects that you'll be screaming at me about.

1) The Curses. Yes, Ranma made that wish to rid himself and the others (excluding his father, heheheh!) of the Jusenkyo curses. Yes, the curses are gone. _Completely gone! **NEVER** TO RETURN! **EVER!**_ Get used to it. For those of you who'll no doubt make the argument that Ranma had accepted his curse as matter of fact, allow me to point out that, like, 90% of Ranma-canon is about him dealing the consequences of the curse and trying desperately to rid of it at every conceivable chance he had! Yes, he used it to his advantage all the time, but that's like having six different bank accounts loaded with 10 million dollars of drug money! Of course you're going to use the money if it's available to you! You might not like where you got the money from, but you'll still shamelessly use it! And finally, yes, Ranma may have accepted that he was stuck with his curse but that was only _at the end of the manga_ and after the _Cursed Springs had already been destroyed_ and the _last drop of the Drowned Man water went down Happosai's worthless gut_. Being **_forced_ **to accept the curse is a far cry from accepting it willingly!

2) Becoming a Saiyan. Yeah, that seems pretty self-explanatory to me. And for those of you who had hoped that he'd stay human and show just how far a traditional human can reach, sadly that's not gonna happen in this story. Not because I don't want it to, mind you! But because it's been made pretty damn clear that humans just don't really factor into the story after the Saiyan Saga and most definitely by the end of the Namek Saga. So, if I'd kept them all human, the Ranma-cast would've fallen to the wayside and been nothing but spectators, watching and yearning as the Saiyans got all of the glory. Just to clarify: Ranma, Ryoga, Shampoo, and Cologne have all become Saiyans.

3) The Tendo Odyssey. Since I don't feel like explaining it in excruciating detail in the story, here's the basic summary of the Tendos' journey. After healing up from the beating his son gave him, Genma brought out his magic compass (inspired by Jack Sparrow's from the Pirates of the Caribbean). As long as the user is following the compass's directions, they will find their heart's greatest desire, even across dimensions. But, unlike the first time he used it years ago, where he made the journey alone, Genma had a huge group following him. The strain of transporting so many people across dimensions together put a massive strain on the compass, causing it to go into 'sleep mode' while it recharged its power. Because of this massive strain, the compass wasn't able to bring them all the way to the universe that Ranma was in, but it did get them into _a_ DBZ-verse, specifically around the end of the Cell Games time (which was the most current issues of DBZ manga that had been issued). Once they arrived and started acclimating to the world, Akane approached Cologne with the secret of the Dragonballs. Akane saw her as the best person to share that secret with since she knew that if Genma found out about the Dragonballs, he's use them to mind-fuck herself and Ranma to get what he wants. After stealing the compass, Cologne heads out to Capsule Corp, steals the Dragon Radar, finds the balls, and makes only two wishes: 1) her youth and 2) her group transported to the same dimension Ranma was in. But due to her single-minded focus on finding the balls, Cologne didn't pay any attention to the (quite literally) world-shaking events that were taking place at the time. She only cared enough to learn that there had been 'biology competition won by the devil' or whatever.

Also, big news! Next chapter, we jump straight into the Z-storyline! So, brace yourself, dear readers. Things are about to get tense. Just Saiyan!

( **Fiori75's Note** ) About the curse. While my partner has already explained his stance with a drug money analogy I'd instead use going bald. Going bald is something that happens to a lot of men that they eventually have to get used to and deal with. But just about every bald man would gladly go back to having hair. Hell, they even had an arc about just that in Ranma. Ranma's curse was like going bald, it was something he didn't like but eventually had to accept because he couldn't find a real cure. But here in DB, there is a 100% guarantee that he can remove his curse. So he took it.

Now about him becoming a Saiyan, this is another of those things that Tellemicus and I agreed on completely. Aside from Tien's last hurrah where he told near-perfect-cell to kiko-fuck yourself and made a square out of a triangle. Humans don't amount to much. Yes they were useful in holding off freeza's army of disposable mooks in the Resurrection F. but rarely can they match off against the threats that need a saiyan to step in. Now this is mostly a fault of Toriyama deciding to focus on Goku and Vegita as his main characters. But it also is a result of the rules as written. Sure Ranma might be able to bridge that gap for a while with pure skill, but the gap in power creep would eventually see him relegated to the same place as Krillin and Tien. And that's just not acceptable.

 **Power Levels** :

Cologne ( **physical age 36** ): 380  
Goku ( **age 23** ): 320  
Ranma ( **age 20** ): 270  
Shampoo ( **age 20** ): 190  
Genma ( **age 46** ): 180  
Soun ( **age 46** ): 180  
Ukyo ( **age 20** ): 160  
Ryoga ( **age 20** ): 150  
Mousse ( **age 20** ): 110  
Chichi ( **age 23** ): 90  
Gohan ( **age 4** ): 1


	9. A Dark Horse Arrives

**.**

 **Son Ranma  
** Written By: _Tellemicus Sundance_  
Co-Authored by: _Fiori75_  
 _#09: A Dark Horse Arrives_

 **October 12, Age 761  
500 miles west of East City**

The hinterlands outside the big city were almost idyllic. Rolling hills covered in grasses and fields with grazing animals, small patches of forests that sprung up every so often, small streams and brooks that flowed along the small valley floors, all framed by beautiful snow-capped mountains. Out here, it was not altogether strange to only see a single house or homestead once every fifty miles or farther. Far from the busy hustle and bustle of the big cities, time moved slowly out here. Which is why when something big happened, it usually took a while for people to notice.

As would be the case for a certain ostrich farmer when a strange metallic sphere crashed into one of his fields, scaring not only him but his birds as well. The ostriches did the sensible thing and ran off, whereas the farmer drove his truck over to the crater. Carefully approaching the lip of the crater with a shotgun in hand, he peeked over the ledge and watched in confused fear as a section of the sphere opened up, revealing a hollow interior. An interior from which a large form with a cascade of wild, spiky hair climbed out of and then slowly rose into the air.

The farmer drew back in alarmed fear, keeping his shotgun trained on the obvious alien. This gave the alien just enough room to land on the lip of the crater, glaring at the farmer in angry disgust. "So, the creatures of this planet _are_ still alive. Kakarot _has_ failed us!"

"St-Stop!" the farmer warned, cocking his gun while his trigger finger became increasingly fidgety. "Stay back! Who are you?!"

Rather than answer, the alien raised his hand to tap a button on the device he wore over his left ear and eye. The small green screen came alive with lights and strange symbols as it focused its scanner upon the farmer. After just a second of calculation, it came to a conclusion and displayed its results, causing the alien's slight snarl to turn into a condescending smirk, "Power level of 5? How puny!"

"D-Don't come any closer!" the farmer warned, leveling his shotgun desperate his trembling body. "I'll use this thing!"

The alien took one step closer and the farmer's finger twitched, shooting a large slug towards the alien's face. Faster than the farmer's eye could track, the alien's hand shot up and caught the slug, his cocky expression not wavering in the least. Holding out the bullet for the farmer to see, the alien's smirk turned slightly sadistic as he watched the puny man's expression change into one of terrified horror. With just a flick of his finger, the alien sent the slug flying back at the man. The velocity of the slug was at least five times greater than what it had been traveling at previously. With such power behind it, it easily ripped into the farmer's chest and tearing through his back, before disappearing into the truck's engine block. Needless to say, the farmer was dead before he hit the ground.

"Heh," the alien snorted derisively. "What a fragile breed of people." That was when his scouter pinged to life again. Following the searching icons, he looked off to the side as the scouter honed in on the nearest strong power level it had yet detected. "Ahh, a rather high power level over that way." Jumping into the air, he shot off in search of what his scouter had found.

Raditz the Saiyan Warrior had arrived.

* * *

 **Son homes**

The morning sun was just starting to peek over the horizon as the small group gathered outside the door to Grandma Nodoka's hut. For the three young children, it was both with heavy hearts and excited chattering that they bid their grandmother farewell. Gohan, Hayato, and Kouma would be leaving the comfort and familiarity of their mountain homes for a few days to go and attend a reunion their fathers had been invited to last week. Having grown up on bedtime stories about the wild tales their dads had had as children, all three of them were quite excited for the chance to meet the people in those stories for real. So excited were they that all of their tails had been wagging practically nonstop since they'd been told about this meeting several days earlier.

"Now, you three behave for your fathers now, you hear?" Nodoka said, smiling sweetly down at the trio that she had just released from a loving embrace.

While only Kouma and Hayato were her true grandchildren, Gohan was such a lovely child that she couldn't help but think of him as part of her family as well. His dad, Goku, had all-too-happily accepted her into his own family, had even quickly taken to calling her 'Mom' because ' _If you're my otouto's mom, you're my mom too!_ '. He had even been kind enough to allow her to take up residence in his own grandpa's hut for the duration of her stay here, which was nearing a full year at this point. Because of her having been neglected any type of familial love of that sort for the majority of her life due to Ranma's long absence, having two sons now within her life was like an unreachable dream come true. Needless to say, Nodoka had been truly touched by all of this and she quickly came to love her son's 'new family' as her own.

"Yes, grandma," the three children answered as they stepped back.

Goku, Ranma, and Shampoo all picked up one of the boys, smiling at them. Goku and Ranma were both dressed in their usual matching Turtle School gi with weighted blue undershirts, wrist bands, and boots. Shampoo's outfit was quite a bit different. Although she too wore a sleeveless gi top and pants, it was a light purple color, bound at the waist by a dark purple belt. And while she too wore a weighted undershirt, hers was a dark purple long-sleeved one, which meant she didn't need the arm bands of the boys. Despite her shoes being the same styled Chinese fighting ones she always wore, these ones were also weighted down like the boys' boots.

Off to side, Ukyo was almost visibly pouting as she watched the group say their farewells. Cologne was much more in control of herself, easily hiding her own disappointment as she glanced over at Chichi. Even after several years, Cologne still could barely wrap her mind around the fact that the Ox Princess had somehow managed to usurp her traditional place as the matriarch of the family just by her overwhelming force of personality. And she wasn't just responsible for guiding the family, but the growing line of restaurants that they'd started expanding their small business into. At present, they owned five different restaurants around the area encircling Mount Paozu and Chichi was already planning on adding three more in the coming months.

"Why can't we go too?" Ukyo groused quietly, her pout starting to become more noticeable.

"We have a _business_ to run," Chichi stated bluntly, glancing sharply over at her young friend. "That means that I'm only willing to allow _one_ of you to go! It's bad enough that Cologne's leaving _again_."

"Sorry about this, dear," Cologne said from the side as she hoisted her traveler's bag onto her shoulder. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the magic compass as she turned to Goku and Ranma, "Boys, be ready to build another house or two when you get back." Ranma just gave her a disinterested wave of acknowledgement. But that was all Cologne needed as she walked away from the group and disappeared into a flash of light while staring hard down at the compass.

"But why Shampoo?" Ukyo asked, ignoring the Elder's departure as she began channeling her inner child while she continued whining.

"She called _dibs!_ " was Chichi's blunt answer.

"Well, I guess it's time we're off," Goku called over, waving his hand towards them. "We'll see you in a day or two. Have fun!"

"Ranma, no getting into fights!" Ukyo warned one last time. "I mean it! I don't want to have to bandage you up first thing when you come home!"

"I only promise to _try!_ " Ranma answered, grinning cheekily down at her as he lifted off the air, before turning and flying off. Shampoo was just a second behind him. Goku came up last, carrying Gohan, Hayato, and Kouma as he rode upon the Flying Nimbus.

* * *

 **Kame House**

"I gotta admit to being rather surprised," Roshi said in a harried voice, looking over towards the door where his new visitors were standing. He had his back pressed up against the tv in a not-so-subtle attempt at hiding the program that was still playing on it. "Gah, where's that button?!" With his eyes locked firmly on the visage of beauty that stood before him, he fumbled blindly at the controls behind him as he sought to turn off the television. Finding a button, he quickly pressed it.

"AH!" Slap! Slap! Slap! "MORE! _MORE!_ " _SLAP! SLAP! "_ _ **DEEPER!**_ _"_ Instead of the tv turning off, the volume increased, making the moaning and panting and slapping noises all the more noticeable. " _ **OOH! SOOO GOOOOD!**_ _ **I'M GONNA C—!**_ " With his face rapidly reddening, he spun and smacked the off button, finally shutting off the infernal device.

Behind him, an angelic giggle filled the awkwardly quiet air as the woman beside Yamcha held up her hand in front of her face to hide her smile and slightly flushed face. Yamcha gave her a hesitant grin as he leaned over and whispered, "I did warn you, honey."

"You did," she agreed, glancing at him with widened eyes. "But I had thought he'd be more…discrete than this."

"As I was saying," Roshi said, moving forward now that the tv was off, smiling in a welcoming manner as he eyed up the beautiful woman a bit more thoroughly. And what a beauty she was! If Bulma was sexy beach babe, this young lady was like a lovely housewife. "I'm surprised to see you here, Yamcha. I'd have thought that Bulma wouldn't have invited you to this reunion at all, given what happened last time we were all together."

Yamcha chuckled somewhat awkwardly, remembering vividly the chewing out he'd gotten from Bulma after the Final Match of the tournament. The fact that the girl he'd been hitting on had turned out to be Ranma hadn't mattered to the blue-haired genius, it was the principle of the matter that she was angry about. Needless to say, seeing him hitting on another girl _right in front of her_ had been more than just cause for her to truly finalize the ending of their romantic relationship there and then. And though Yamcha had expected it, he'd still be somewhat surprised to learn that Bulma had somehow managed to hold out hope that he would come back to her.

"Yeah, truth is that she didn't tell me about this," Yamcha admitted as he gestured towards the lady beside him. "It was actually my fiancée here that told me about it. Apparently, her younger sister is Bulma's new secretary."

"FIANCEE?!" Roshi, Krillin, and Turtle all repeated in stunned surprise.

"Yup," the grin on Yamcha's face couldn't get any bigger even if he tried. "Guys, meet Kasumi Tendo! I met her while visiting the hospital after I'd strained a couple of my muscles while training a few months ago."

"Is that right?" Roshi said, leering slightly at Kasumi. Rather than be offended by the old lecher, as most women would be, Kasumi just continued smiling at him as she gave a small bow of greeting. Looking back at his old student, Roshi said, "Well, take it from the master, Yamcha! Don't let _this one_ go! I can already see that she's a _real_ gem!"

"Damn, man," Krillin said, longing in his voice as he came up alongside his friend. "You have all the luck with the ladies! First Bulma, then those girls back in West City, and now Kasumi? What's your secret, man?!"

Yamcha just chuckled awkwardly, unwilling to point a few of the rather obvious differences between himself and Krillin. Thankfully, the hissing whine of a jet engine rapidly approaching and then settling down on the small island interrupted the conversation. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the blue-haired beauty herself.

"Hellllooooo? Hey, you guuuuuyss," she called out but trailed off as she rounded the open door, her mischievous smile quickly falling as her expression darkened upon seeing the one person she _didn't_ want to see here. Despite her obvious glare towards Yamcha, Roshi and Krillin greeted her just as enthusiastically as they had Yamcha.

"Hey, Bulma!" Krillin called, smiling.

"Wow, it's been a long time, hasn't it?" Bulma said while trying to muster a smile towards the two short baldies in the room as she entered. But her smile instantly faded as she shot a dark glare at Yamcha, " _Not long enough_ in some cases though." Yamcha just sighed at her hostility but said nothing in return.

Walking forward, Kasumi approached Bulma with a small smile, earning the lady's sharp glare. But Kasumi ignored the dark look as she came a stop before her and gave another bow in greeting. "Hello, Ms. Briefs. I'm Kasumi Tendo. I've heard a lot about you from Yamcha. I hope we can get along?"

Despite how much it was obvious that Bulma was trying to hold onto her anger and direct it at Kasumi, the dark expression soon started fading away. Like so many others had and would find, Bulma found she just couldn't get or stay mad at such a polite and gentle lady as Kasumi. After a few tense moments, Bulma let loose a reluctant sigh, "…Fine. I suppose I can't blame _you_ for something that was probably _Yamcha's_ fault to begin with. Hello, I'm Bulma. Nice to meet you at last, Kasumi. By the way, tell me, do you happen to have a sister named Nabiki?"

From there, the girls moved off towards the kitchen to get started on a light meal. Bulma absentmindedly handed a drooling Roshi a box of manju buns. Krillin and Yamcha took seats in front of the tv, ejecting the porn movie in search of something better to watch while Roshi and Turtle fought over who got to eat how many of the buns.

* * *

 **Near Mount Paozu**

' _Well, that little match was fun_ ,' Raditz thought with a content grin on his face. "Too bad he couldn't give me a proper challenge."

It was a rare thing for him to be able to fight against an opponent who was so much weaker than himself. The first reason was because of the Prince. Vegeta had been born with a naturally high level of power, much more so than nearly all other children of his generation. Thanks to his immense pride, Vegeta loved rushing into battle, no matter how many opponents he was arrayed against or how strong they were. He was the first one to charge into the fight and the last one to leave, usually. And this bloodthirsty attitude is what had allowed the Prince to build up his power to dwarf even Nappa's. However, the days of when Vegeta would be injured enough to get a Zenkai had dwindled in the past five to seven years as more and more races with strong warriors were extinguished. Thus, with the Prince hogging all of the fun to himself, only allowing Nappa to watch his back, Raditz was often sidelined. And while Raditz was content with avoiding jumping into unwinnable battles, where the chances of death were substantially higher for him because he was so much weaker, it always grated on his nerves how the Prince and Nappa constantly belittled him for it. They were a large part of the reason why he was so much weaker than he should've been!

Another reason was because the three Saiyans were almost never allowed to train. Either they were being sent out on missions all across the galaxy or they were on mandatory downtime until they were sent off on missions. Lord Freeza was staunchly against his minions training and gaining power. After all, that type of thing would encourage competition among his men, which in turn could potentially lead to insubordination and rebellion against his and his father's rule. Thus, that left only field missions and battles as the only means of getting any type of training done. And, as stated before, Vegeta often hoarded those for himself, for much the same reason as Lord Freeza forbidding his men from properly training was Raditz's suspicion.

It was for these reasons that Raditz had purposely goaded the Namekian into attacking him. It was just too bad that his scouter detected another high power nearby so quickly. It meant he had to cut his impromptu training session short. He was here on a mission after all. And with the Prince's rapidly dwindling patience in him due to his weakness (while conveniently ignoring the fact that _he_ was the reason for it), Raditz knew he had to keep himself mission-oriented for his own well-being. So, there he was now, flying rapidly through the air watching his scouter carefully as he neared the second location. "Hm, it doesn't seem to be a single power level, but a large group of them instead. Curious."

As he was speaking, he saw what seemed to be a mid-sized village set alongside a long roadway come into view. After having traveled a large chunk of the known galaxy for most of his life, he easily recognized what kind of village this place was. Even if it was much more localized and primitive in scale to what he was accustomed to, Raditz could see that it had clearly started out as a singular establishment, a pitstop for travelers and freight haulers. The single largest building of the village seemed to comprise of a refueling station, restaurant, and rest quarters, with a sizable lot for the vehicles and cargo haulers to park while inactive. The blinking circles of his scouter started chiming and glowing as the device honed in on numerous different energy signatures, well over two hundred in number.

"Ohhh, isn't this interesting," he murmured to himself. "A whole village full of comparatively high levels. I'm detecting about 200 people with levels from 100 to 160 here. I wonder what kind of culture these people here have to have allowed them to grow so strong, unlike the rest of this worthless planet."

But rather than land to explore the interesting village and scope out the people within, Raditz floated up above and around the buildings, grinning as he watched. From up here, he could see at least six different areas that were clearly training grounds with large groups of males and females going through their paces. He could even see three different street fights taking place scattered about the village, one in a side street, one bouncing across rooftops, and the last within a house (he could tell because the house collapsed in on itself after a few moments).

The sight of those street fights sparked a fading memory within Raditz. A memory of his long-gone hometown back on Planet Vegeta. A bittersweet laugh tore its way out as he watched with increasing amusement. "I don't know who these people are, but they're starting to remind me of home. Aaaaah, too bad we'll have torch this place too."

Just then, his scouter pinged to life again, pointing far to the south again. "Ahhhh, interesting. Three _very_ high power levels flying in that direction at tremendous speeds. If Kakarot isn't one of _those_ , I'm going to start getting _pissed!_ "

* * *

 **Kame House**

"Hello?" a familiar voice called out from outside. "Anyone here?"

"Ranma? Goku!" Krillin called out as he rushed to door, followed by the others. They gathered out on the small porch and gave cheery waves towards the newly arrived group. Laughter and happy greetings passed as old and new friends were reunited.

As he approached the door, Roshi froze up when he caught sight of the lady outside. He easily recognized her as one of the girls back from the tournament who'd flung themselves at Ranma and who he'd later learned had apparently been engaged to him by his idiot father. The purple-haired girl had been lovely back then, but now that she'd matured into a true woman, she had become one of those rare beauties that outshone all others without even trying. Without even being aware of it, Roshi couldn't help cackling slightly as a heavy stream of blood started running out of his nose.

But Roshi wasn't the only one who'd come to a halt out of surprise. Shampoo and Ranma both paused and stared as they caught sight of a familiar figure gracefully step outside, smiling welcomingly down at them as was her usual penchant. Even after several years of loving and being loved by his wives, Ranma had always had a small flame safely hidden away in his heart for the eldest Tendo sister. And what he saw now would've easily sent that small matchstick of flame into a raging inferno had he still been unwed and had no children. Shampoo was having a similar reaction, but rather than lust, it was jealousy and overwhelming relief that reared their ugly heads in her as she saw what kind of woman Kasumi had grown into.

It was Yamcha's voice that broke through their slight daze as he was saying, "—is my girlfriend, Kasumi Tendo. We met at the hospital, where she helped patch me up after a small training accident."

Kasumi bowed slightly as Goku gave a simple wave and smile in greeting. Moving forward, she stepped in front of Ranma and Shampoo with a relieved smile on her face. "It's good to see you again, Ranma, Shampoo."

"Yeah, it is," Ranma said levelly, doing his best to push aside his earlier conflict. He smiled broadly as he gently pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry about you getting pulled into this mess with our fathers. If I'd known that Genma had another way to get here, I would've taken it with me when I left."

"It's alright, Ranma," Kasumi said as she stepped back from the hug. "It's all in the past and we've managed to work through it. Besides, if you had done that, I wouldn't have met Yamcha here. He's such a sweetheart."

"Wait, you two know each other?!" Yamcha spoke up in slight alarm, having been watching their embrace with a good amount of confusion and anger directed towards Ranma. With how much they'd been at each other's throats when they were younger, he wouldn't put it past Ranma to try and ruin what was probably the best relationship with a girl he'd ever had.

"Yeah, we met a while back," Ranma stated, glancing over at Yamcha with a carefully neutral face.

"He used to be engaged to my youngest sister, Akane," Kasumi explained, smiling over at Yamcha.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Krillin piped up as he realized something. "First those girls from the tournament, now Kasumi's sister?! How did Ranma become such a Playboy?!"

"Ghehehehe! I _knew_ I taught _one_ of those boys right!" Roshi cheered, feeling indescribably proudly of his accomplishment, while the others started laughing loudly at Ranma's expense, even Shampoo.

" _I'm not a Playboy!_ " Ranma yelled out in a frantic defense.

"Says the man with _two_ wives," Shampoo shot back, wearing an impish grin on her beautiful face.

At her statement, Roshi and Oolong both started howling even louder in laughter, Krillin shot Ranma a slight glare of envy, Bulma just shook her head in exasperation, and Yamcha softly pulled a giggling Kasumi into his arms in a somewhat defensive manner. Goku was smiling as he watched his friends have a good time. Gohan pulled on his dad's pants leg as he asked, "Daddy, what's a Playboy?"

"I don't know," Goku admitted as he shrugged in blissful innocence. "But apparently Uncle Ranma is one."

"Not you too, Goku!" Ranma whined as he shot his brother a betrayed look. Goku just chuckled good-naturedly as he scratched the back of his head.

"Well, seeing as we've gotten picking on Ranma done," Kasumi said once the initial laughter had started subsiding as she stared down at the three children clustered around the newly-arrived trio's legs. "Shouldn't you introduce these three to us?"

"Oh yeah, sorry about that," Goku said, smiling as he rested his hand on his son's head. "This is my son, Gohan."

"And these two little guys are my sons, Kouma from Shampoo and Hayato from Ukyo," Ranma said, indicating both of his boys.

Gohan was shyly grasping upon his dad's leg still as he peeked out towards the strange adults they'd come to meet. He was wearing a white sleeveless shirt, green pants with black boots with white lacing. Over his white shirt was a yellow Hanfu-style top with green sleeves and the kanji for 'Son' within a large white circle with black lining. To complete his getup, he also wore a red cap with the Four-Star Dragonball attached to the top. Along with his bashfulness, it painted a picture of a very sweet and innocent child that was practically nothing like his father.

Hayato was leaning back against Shampoo's legs in a comfortable slouch as he studied each of the new people in front him. Unlike his cousin, Hayato wore a nice light blue silk shirt with a simple pair of dark blue pants and a pair of white shoes. A pair of golden dragons embroidery reached down from the shirt collar to his wrists, and his name was blazoned on his back in blocky white letters. Hanging limply down between his shoulders was a stubby little ponytail, the only part of his spiky brown hair that was at all tamed. Protruding out of his pants from a small hole was a furry brown tail that was presently wrapped contentedly around his mommy's leg.

Kouma had moved forward and looked up at Krillin with an eager gleam in his eyes as his tail swished and thrashed excitedly behind him. The boy was dressed in a yellow sleeveless silk shirt that greatly resembled the ones that Ranma used to wear back in Nerima, with a matching pair of yellow sweat pants that were slightly grass stained and threadbare around the knees, and to complete the look was a simple white bandana to keep his wild, spiky hair out of his eyes. Of the three boys, he seemed to be the one that was most built like a fighter, with slightly bulging muscles visible along his shoulders and arms.

At the sight of the three tails on the three boys, everyone but Kasumi flinched back into startled horror at the implications those furry appendages meant. While Bulma and Roshi were bombarding Goku and Ranma with questions about the full moon, Kouma had approached the man closest to his height and asked, "Who are you? Are you strong?! Let's fight!"

Chuckles erupted from Krillin as he eyed up the feisty child. "Heh, yeah, you're definitely Ranma's kid. My name's Krillin and, yeah, I am pretty strong if I do say so myself."

"As strong as my daddy and uncle?!" Kouma asked, purple eyes wide and sparkling.

"Eh…Heheheh, not quite," Krillin admitted reluctantly, before he gave the kid a confident grin. "But I can definitely give them a run for their money! So, Kouma, was it? Do you wanna be a fighter like your dad when you grow up?"

"Yeah!" Kouma cried, thrusting his arms up in triumph. "I'm gonna be the _strongest_ in the _whole universe!_ "

"Is that so?" There was a playful smile on Krillin's face as he watched the child's exuberance. "Well, we'll have to spar some time, when you've trained up a little, kid."

Off to the side, Yamcha finally managed to put into words the question that had been burning at the back of his mind since he first saw the three boys. "Wait, wait! I can understand why Goku's kid has a tail, but why do Ranma's boys have one too?!"

"Well, he _is_ my brother," Goku said simply, as though that explained everything. But all it did was raise more questions in the minds of his friends.

Kasumi, who'd turned a questioning gaze upon Ranma and Shampoo, was the only one who saw the small but knowing smiles cross their faces as they glanced at each other momentarily. But when they said nothing to contribute to the conversation, Kasumi decided to hold her own tongue. This was clearly their secret to tell. Besides, she was a bit more distracted at another mystery had presented itself to her. Ranma had said that Hayato was Ukyo's son. So, why was Shampoo being so warm and loving towards the boy? The flirty but angry and jealous teenager Kasumi remembered the girl being back in Nerima would've never been as gentle or welcoming as she was being towards any child who'd been birthed by one of her love rivals. Yes, Ranma had said that he'd married both Shampoo _and_ Ukyo, but it _couldn't_ have been a mutually happy marriage…could it?

"So, Hayato, Gohan, what do you little guys want to be when you grow up?" Bulma asked as she crouched down before the two little ones with a soft smile.

"I…I don't know," Hayato said, looking up at her with wide, searching eyes. "But I'm gonna be the _best_ there ever was!"

Bulma giggled slightly at that answer, remembering all the times that his father would say something like that when they were younger as well. Getting her giggles back under control, she nodded in understanding to the boy before looking over at Gohan with the same question in her eyes.

Gohan saw that the pretty lady's attention was directed at him now, so he quietly answered, "Momma wants me to be an orthopedist."

"An orthopedist?" Bulma answered, a look of surprise on her face. Both at the fact that the young boy seemed to understand what an orthopedist even was, and that he could pronounce it properly to begin with. But then her attention was caught by something else. "Oh wow, that's the real Four-Star Ball on his hat there, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I wanted Gohan to have it since it once belonged to my grandpa," Goku explained. "It took us a while to find it. We've already got the Three and Six-Star Balls too."

"Gonna make any wishes when you get all seven?" Krillin asked, curiously.

"Hmmm, not me," Goku admitted, smiling down at the Dragonball on his son's hat. "But Elder Cologne said that she and her people had a wish they wanted to make when they all get here."

"Elder Cologne?" Kasumi spoke up, looking both surprised but not surprised. "I see, so she did manage to find you guys after she left."

"Yeah, she's been pretty busy these past few years," Ranma said. "Traveling back and forth between her old village and our home, bringing some of her people over and setting up a new village for themselves near us. Apparently, Cologne likes this place a lot more and managed to talk a good chunk of her people into wanting to come over as well."

"I see," Kasumi said, looking unsure how she was supposed to take this news. But after Yamcha gently took her hand in a reassuring gesture, her face brightened up again with a small smile.

Seeing that action, Ranma made to move forward to pull the former bandit aside and have a few words with him. But he stopped in his tracks as he, Goku, and Shampoo all sensed a tremendous presence suddenly appear at the edges of their sensory. It felt angry, malevolent, and was rushing right towards them! Their sudden tensing wasn't missed by anyone.

"Oh man, there's something big coming straight for us!" Goku said as he and the others turned to face the direction this new presence was approaching from. "And it feels bad!"

"What? Are you sure, Goku?" Bulma asked as she took a few steps back to stand beside Kasumi, taking refuge behind the line of fighters in front of her.

"Yeah, it feels angry but also…excited," Ranma said, staring up into the blue sky where he could feel the presence rapidly closing in.

"Yeah, I feel it too," Krillin said, turning to face the threat with them as Yamcha sidled up beside him.

"Look, there!" Just as the presence finally became visible to their eyes, Goku and Shampoo both nudged their sons back. "Kouma, Hayato, Gohan! Get in the house now!"

The three boys looked up at their parents confused and slightly scared, looking up at the sky as well as the person raced towards them. "Who is it?!"

"It's not Piccolo, is it?" Krillin asked, trying to shield his eyes from the blinding sunlight.

Finally, with a gust of wind kicked up by his rapid descent, a tall figure dressed in strange chest armor landed on the beach. His black hair was spiky and very long, reaching down to his knees. On his face was some kind of strange device, clipped over his ear with a small screen hanging over his left eye, which was flashing and chiming as it scanned over each of the individuals in front of him. After the device stopped flashing, a series of icons and strange numbers blinked to life on the screen. ' _Huh, interesting. Still quite weak, but he and those two are all at 470 to 490._ ' His face was set into a content smirk as he gazed upon the group before him, specifically Goku. The man's overwhelming presence beat down on the fighters like a lead weight, sending shivers of fear and anxiety down their spines. But despite the anxiety and having the person's heavy gaze locked on him, Goku held his ready stance alongside Ranma, prepared to spring into action if needed.

"So, we meet again at last," the stranger said, his voice a gravelly tenor. "You've grown up, but I can still recognize you, Kakarot."

"Kaka…rot?" Goku repeated uncertainly.

"That's right," the man said, his smirk widening slightly. "That's your name."

As the rest of the group recoiled in surprise and uncertainty, most of them relaxed out of their ready stances upon seeing that the stranger wasn't going to immediately attack them. But despite him not attacking right away, the darkening glare on his face showed that he was still quite upset and that violence was still a very real possibility. "Kakarot! What have you been doing all these years?! Your mission was to terminate all life on this planet! Why haven't you carried it out?!"

Goku just stared at the man in mounting confusion before looking towards Roshi and the others in search of answers. The only one who didn't seem confused about what the man was talking about was Ranma, who had remained resolutely in his fighting stance, still primed to attack or defend. "Listen, stranger, we don't know who this 'Kakarot' fellow is, but he's obviously not here. Why don't you explain yourself before you start throwing accusations around?"

"Pah, this guy's probably just been drinking a bit too much," Krillin said as he came forward and waved his hand in a shooing motion. "Why don't you skedaddle and come back never, bub?"

The stranger smirked down at the midget a split second before he lashed out. The brown fur belt around his waist swung out, smacking Krillin in the face and sending him flying to smash into the corner of Kame House. As Kasumi and Yamcha hurried around Krillin to make sure he was okay, the others all glared at the stranger or started gawking in surprised horror at seeing the stranger possessing a very similar tail to Goku and the boys

"A tail?!" Goku said, very startled. "He's got a tail too?!"

The armored man just continued chuckling to himself as he studied Goku's reaction with amused interest. However, before the stranger could say anything in response, a small figure raced forward. The stranger just stared down in amusement as a small blue-haired child dressed in yellow raced at him.

"That wasn't very nice!" Kouma yelled out angrily as he leapt up with a fist cocked back. "I'm gonna get you for that!"

But rather than smack the child away, the stranger caught Kouma in his large hand as his amused smirked widened. Upon his face, the device chimed and beeped, "Power level of 25, eh? That's moderately impressive for a brat your age."

After a long moment of staring down at the thrashing and yelling child as the kid tried beating, kicking, and even biting on his wrist in an effort to escape his grasp, the stranger caught sight of Kouma's tail and an obvious look of surprise crossed his face. It took a slight moment for him to overcome his surprise, but when he did, he tossed the boy back towards the young woman who had purple hair and was clearly seconds away from charging in herself. Shampoo caught Kouma and quickly set him down protectively behind her, her gaze never leaving the stranger, nor did she slip out of her fighting stance after she'd set the boy down. "Kouma, get back now!"

"But, Mommy—!"

" _Now_ , Kouma!" Shampoo barked back sternly in her best motherly voice, learned from years of interaction with Chichi. Though pouting angrily, the boy shuffled back slightly stay behind her.

"Tell me, Kakarot, do you not recognize me?" the man asked as he returned his attention to Goku, seeing the obvious lack of familiarity on his face.

"What are you—?" Goku said, stammering as he tried to understand what was happening and what the stranger was talking about. He was also partially distracted by Gohan's fearful clinging onto his leg until Bulma finally came forward and snatched him away. "Of course not! I've never met you before!"

"Kakarot! You mean to tell me you have no idea who I am?!" the man demanded, his stance shifting into a slightly more aggressive one as his voice hardened in disappointed confusion and anger.

"I don't know who this 'Kakarot' person you're looking for is, but I'm not him!" Goku shot back, his own gaze hardening in response. "My name's Son Goku!"

The man snarled slightly in disgusted realization. "Kakarot, tell me, did you ever suffer a serious injury to your head when you young?"

"Are you kidding, bub?" Ranma piped back. "He gets hit all the time in the head during training! The first time I met the guy, Goku got smacked in the face by a car before crashing into a tree!"

"Quiet, you!" the man barked, glaring at Ranma in annoyed anger. "This doesn't concern you! Now, _answer me_ , Kakarot!"

"Yeah, I did!" Goku admitted. "I don't remember it, but I still got the scar from it."

"You stupid fool, you forgot everything," the man snarled, disappointment written all over his face.

As Roshi chimed in and told the story of Goku's origins to the group and the revelation that Goku was an alien, Ranma started sliding slightly to the side. He still listened to the story with half an ear, but he was more focused on setting up a better angle to attack the man who he was only now starting to vaguely remember. It'd been more than five years at this point since he'd skimmed over the manga, so a lot of the details had faded from his memory, aside from the most important key facts. The most prominent being that Goku was from a warrior race called Saiyans and that this fellow was somehow related to Goku. Despite his slow repositioning, the hairy man had kept a weary eye on him, likely knowing that Ranma was preparing to be the first to spring up and attack at the slightest hint of aggression.

Another minor distraction came up when Yamcha managed to rouse Krillin, who pulled himself out of the hole he'd been knocked into. After seeing Krillin once again on his feet and reasonably unharmed, Goku returned his attention onto the man. "Fine, you've got my attention. Now tell us who you are!"

"Well, I wasn't planning on giving a history lesson when I came here today," the man muttered, more to himself as he glanced down at the sand under his feet for a moment. "Fine then, here's the truth. You were born on Planet Vegeta as part of a great warrior race, the Saiyans. Just like me. Now, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Raditz, your _big brother_."

Everyone recoiled in surprise, none more so than Goku himself. For at least half of his life, Goku had been an orphan abandoned in the mountains. Then he became the ecstatic big brother of another boy lost in the mountains who had also lost his family. He had been quite thrilled to learn and embrace this role as the protective older sibling. But, if what this man was saying was true, then that would mean that he'd have been the…middle brother all along? He looked over at Ranma, uncertain about how to take this news, and somewhat…fearful of how the young man he'd taken into his family would react to this news. Ranma met his gaze with a carefully neutral expression, which Goku knew from experience meant that he was going to reserve his judgment until after Goku himself made up his mind. In a way, that was both liberating and an incredibly heavy burden to bear.

"Goku…" Bulma hissed quietly from behind him, where she was still restraining a fearful and confused Gohan from rushing up to his daddy again. Her eyes were staring at Raditz, widened in surprise as the new revelation caused her to see the man differently now. The dark, thick hair, the strong jawline, the piercing dark eyed gaze when he got serious, the large but streamlined muscles, all of it added up to something surprising to her. "He looks…just like you."

"And why should I believe you?" Goku challenged, putting Bulma's comment to back of his mind.

"That's right!" Krillin chimed in. "Why is Goku on Earth if he's really from another planet?"

Raditz chuckled but was interrupted before he could answer. It was Ranma who spoke up this time. "The guy already told us why Goku's here. Remember what he said when he got here? That Goku's mission was 'terminate all life on this planet.' Isn't that right?"

"That's correct," Raditz stated, nodding towards Ranma in acknowledgement. "And it's a mission that he's failed miserably. You see, we Saiyans are sorta like 'planet brokers.' We scour space for planets that would fetch a high price on the galactic market. Once we find them, we send our warriors there to purge them of any life to make them ready for sale. It's a very, very profitable business and we take great pride at being very efficient in our work. Stronger planets usually required teams of us. But for a weak world like this one, just one of our babies would've been sufficient to carry out the order."

"If what you say is true, you Saiyans are just an abomination!" Krillin snapped, more than slightly angry and scared.

"You're just space pirates!" Yamcha agreed, looking just as upset.

Bulma cradled Gohan closer to her as the boy stared up at his long-lost uncle with wide eyes. "How can you send off little babies into space all alone?!"

Raditz just smirked, staring down at the second boy he could see who also definitely had a tail. Despite where his gaze was directed, he pointed off in another direction, towards where Kouma was snarling at him from behind Shampoo's legs. "Trust me, they're more than capable of fending for themselves! Such as just like that little one demonstrated a short moment ago! …Well, most of them! Kakarot, however, is a disgrace! You could've easily wiped out every living creature on this planet by yourself! With that wonderful moon there, it would've only taken you a year or two at the most!"

That strange comment caught Goku's attention and confusion. "What's the moon got to do with any of this?"

However, as Raditz started cursing Goku out for his ignorance and, when he noticed, cutting off his tail, the implications of what the full moon and that giant ape monster that Goku became suddenly took on a whole new meaning for the rest of the group of normal humans present who'd had the misfortune of dealing with it. "Now, I see why you're on such good terms with these weaklings!"

"Listen, this is my home!" Goku shot back, now starting to feel his heckles rise at Raditz's continually growing anger and the constant revelations he was dropping. "These are my friends! So, I don't care what you say I am! And you sure don't act like any brother _we'd_ want to have!"

He said that last line with a not-so-subtle glance towards Ranma. Raditz followed his gaze just in time to see Ranma give Goku an answering nod of agreement. The implications were quite obvious to the older Saiyan. That he'd not only built a life here but had established a larger family for himself than Raditz had first assumed if he was willing to add certain non-Saiyans to his own brood. Which meant, specifically, that that human over there was likely his closest 'brother' on this planet. And while he intellectually knew that his little brother probably hadn't intended it as such, the idea that Kakarot was essentially replacing him with this mere but admittedly strong human as his brother struck a primal chord within him. This 'insult' caused Raditz to send the young man a fierce glare that promised pain and/or death.

"And _we_ have no interest in conquering planets or destroying worlds," Ranma said, meeting Raditz's now really upset glare challengingly. Well, at least the human wasn't backing down from him. Raditz could respect him and his courage for that much, if nothing else.

"You may be Goku's older brother," Roshi added as he stepped forward. "But that doesn't mean that he has to follow the same practices and lifestyle as you do."

"Now, leave us alone!" Goku ordered.

After a moment to recollect himself, Raditz let loose a heavy chuckle as he walked off to the side of the house and stared up at the sky and where he knew many billions of stars were hidden. He ignored the weaklings as they shuffled aside to keep out of his way as he did so. "So, baby brother wants to be left alone. It's a pity that that's not going to happen. You're just far too valuable to us for that. See, about thirty years ago, our planet Vegeta met with an unfortunate accident where a huge comet slammed into it. The planet was vaporized and the Saiyan race destroyed. We're the last of a dying breed, brother. In fact, as far as we can tell, there are only four of us left, _including you_."

"The reason I've come to you now is because of this," Raditz said, his smirk returning as he saw not only the reluctant interest on Goku's face, but a third child who was standing on the small porch to the house. Specifically, he saw the tail that this last child also had which was quivering in a mixture of fear and tension. ' _Three of them, eh? Interesting. Otouto's been busy on this world, it would seem. Heheheh_.' "We've recently come across a new plant we want to conquer which would bring in a very high price. But, unfortunately, the job's a little too big for the three of us alone to handle. We were almost afraid we'd have to pass it up…until I remembered you, Kakarot. You're not as powerful as I might've hoped but still, with your help, we should manage nicely."

Raditz got up close and leaned into his brother's face, his smirk not wavering. "Are you excited? You should be. I've come to take you back into the fold!"

"I've heard enough!" Goku yelled back as he bounced back a few steps. "I'd die before I joined a gang of pirates like you!"

For a split second, surprise flashed over Raditz's face. _Genuine surprise_ that a Saiyan could pass up the chance to fight against what was obviously a strong race. But, just as quick as the surprise came, it passed, and his smirk reasserted itself. His gaze shifted away from Goku and latched onto Gohan, who Bulma was still cradling against her. "I've been meaning to ask, Kakarot. I couldn't help noticing that your sons seem to have tails too."

" _Leave them out of this!_ " Ranma and Goku both yelled as they shifted into fighting stances.

"I'll decide that!" Raditz snapped back, not at all concerned with their sudden aggression. "If I can't have _you_ , I'll just have to settle with taking the _boys_ in your stead." That declaration immediately caused Hayato to run over and join his brother hiding behind his mommy, seeing her as a better defense than hiding in the house. Gohan just clutched onto Bulma tighter in fright.

"I said no!" Goku yelled, preparing to attack.

"I see that _fire_ in your eyes," Raditz said as he started walking forward calmly. "You _love_ to fight. It's in your _blood_."

As Goku was momentarily paralyzed at that far-too-accurate statement, Ranma charged with a cry and his fist cocked back. But Raditz was prepared, easily swaying aside, dodging Ranma's fist while burying his own fist into Ranma's gut. The blow was devastating, far more powerful than Ranma had expected it to be. It was like being slammed into the gut by a fist-shaped sledgehammer swung by an enraged giant. With his mind overridden by the pain, he was unable to summon the mental fortitude to maneuver in the air or catch himself with his ki, causing him to go skipping out across the ocean and quickly sinking underwater. Raditz stared after where he'd sent the young man who dared call himself part of his and Kakarot's family with an all-too-satisfied grin on his face. ' _Wow, that felt TRULY therapeutic!_ '

But this act also sparked Goku, Krillin, and Yamcha into action. Despite trying to gang up on him, each of them was felled in single strikes as well; a knee to the gut for Goku, a backhand to the face for Krillin, and a headbutt for Yamcha. Within two seconds of the fight starting, it ended, with Raditz standing tall in the center and completely unharmed. Raditz ignored the others as he turned his attention to the last obstacle that stood in his way, which was the purple-haired woman who was standing vigil over two of the boys. ' _Must be Kakarot's woman. She's definitely the strongest female on this planet, by a long shot. 468, in point of fact. I guess it makes sense why he'd take her to mate with._ '

As soon as he started approaching, Shampoo's snarl turned murderous as she instantly realized what his intentions were. Raditz's smirk deepened as he saw that glare. Channeling her ki, which caused her power to spike up to 481 for a moment and surprised Raditz for a second, she rushed forward with a cry of " _Don't touch my sons!_ "

Following an instinct that was ingrained into all males for when dealing with aggressive Saiyan mothers, Raditz focused a bit more of his power into his fist when he struck her. A powerful blow to completely knock out an aggressive and protective mother trying to defend her children. After all, there was _nothing_ more ferocious or dangerous in all the known universe than a Saiyan mother out for blood. And while she might not be a Saiyan (as far as he knew), she was certainly giving him the vibes of one. In that single blow, Shampoo was instantly flattened at the bottom of a respectably sized crater that'd just been beaten into the small island around her. The force of the impact knocked both of the boys behind her off their feet, which just made it easier for Raditz to dash in and grab their tails, immobilizing them. ' _I'm curious, though. How did she cause her power level to increase like that just now?_ '

Putting that small mystery out of his mind, he strutted over and grabbed up the boy who was crying as he tried to help his father regain his breath and footing. Picking this boy up by the back of his hanfu, Raditz shot a dark smirk down at his winded and injured brother. "Like I said, I'm taking your sons. Now, if you ever want them back, I suggest you listen _closely_. I'll give you _one day_ to think about my offer. Although, let's be honest, I'm _not_ giving you a choice, Kakarot. _When_ you decide to join us, and you will, there's something I want you to do: prove to me that you mean it! Eliminate 100 human weaklings! Just stack them here and I'll be back tomorrow for a head count!"

Everyone that could, froze in horror as they stared at the unrepentant smirking face of Raditz. "I hope you come through for me on this one, Kakarot. After all, these brats are my nephews. I'd hate to have to hurt them. And even if you decide to refuse, it won't matter. I've decided that this planet will be our next target after we finish up our current mission."

"Help, daddy! I'm scared!" Gohan cried out as Raditz shot up into the air and rapidly faded from sight.

Gasping for air as he held his throbbing chest, Ranma landed awkwardly in the surf just a few paces off to the side. Wiping the saltwater out of his eyes, he looked around at the scene and saw the damage that was done, as well as who was missing. "…Kouma! …Hayato! Gohan…! Where—are they?!"

"He took them!" Roshi answered as he rushed over to help steady Ranma as he came ashore. "I think he thought they were all Goku's boys and that's why he took them."

"Where'd he…go?!" Ranma bit out, rubbing his stomach gingerly as his knees momentarily gave out from under him.

"Whoa there! Easy, Ranma!" Roshi cautioned as he helped brace the lad.

"NIMBUS!" Goku yelled as he struggled to climb to his feet.

"No, Goku!" Roshi called over to him, looking horrified at his pupil's obvious rash choice.

"You'll be killed!" Bulma agreed, trying to hold him back from struggling onto the cloud. "You really think you can beat him by going after him _right now?!_ "

"I've got to try!" Goku said as he dropped back to the ground weakly, his breath starting to come somewhat easier.

"He's stronger than both you and Ranma!" Roshi pointed out, shuffling over with Ranma hanging off his shoulder. "We need to use our heads for this one. We need to outsmart him!"

It took a few minutes but eventually Bulma, Kasumi, and Roshi able to get the downed fighters into more comfortable positions. Krillin and Yamcha, who had both been knocked out, had been taken inside the house and laid down on the couch or chair. Shampoo was brought upstairs and laid in one of the guestroom's beds. But Goku and Ranma were seated on the porch. After a bit of brainstorming, a basic plan was eventually worked out among them. If Raditz was truly anything like Goku, his tail would be his weakness. A strong grip on it would cripple him, leaving him open to a decisive killing blow. And while Ranma and Goku worked excellently as a team, they doubted they'd be able to make the grab with just themselves. However, with Yamcha, Krillin, and Shampoo already knocked out and Roshi facing the very real possibility of a permanent death, it looked like the brothers would have to go it alone. Finding him would be easy since Gohan was still wearing the Four-Star Dragonball on his hat.

That is when Piccolo made his presence known. Understandably, everyone was immediately on edge upon spotting the green demon hovering menacingly over the island above them. Dropping down the ground in front of the Son brothers, Piccolo glared between in equal parts menace and disgust. Even with their slowly-fading injuries and Piccolo's nonaggressive posture, Ranma and Goku immediately settled in relaxed fighting stances, ready for another fight.

"So, what do you want, Piccolo?" Goku demanded, matching Piccolo's glare challengingly

"Yes, why are you here?" Roshi asked, looking remarkably indignant. "This is _my_ island!"

"I've been following that bastard ever since he confronted me earlier," Piccolo stated. Everyone immediately caught the implications of what he'd said and likely meant. That he'd fought Raditz and had been humiliatingly beaten as well. And now he wanted revenge against the Saiyan warrior.

"Oh really?" Ranma asked, already looking like he had already guessed Piccolo's intentions. "Let me guess: you want us to wear him down for you before you kill him. That's it, isn't it?"

As everyone gawked slightly at Ranma's assumption, Piccolo smirked slightly at him. "That's right. I know we're enemies but hear me out. Just the two of you would be a risky proposition. But all three of us together might just be enough to take him down. You've seen how powerful he is. You need every strong fighter you can get on your side for this. Agreed?"

"I don't know," Goku said, unflinching. "How do we know you won't suddenly turn on us?"

"You don't," was the blunt answer. "Honestly, my reasons for helping are purely selfish and I could care less what happens to your sons. But the only one who's allowed to take over the Earth is me! I won't let anyone else do it! As much as it sickens me, I'm willing to put our differences aside. But make no mistake, this truce is only temporary!"

"Well, looks like we're a team then," Ranma said after sharing a look with Goku.

Hopping onto the Flying Nimbus, Goku pulled out the Dragon Radar from his ki-space pocket as he shot Piccolo and Ranma a challenging grin. "You guys think you can keep up with the Flying Nimbus at its top speed?"

"Puh, please, aniki!" Ranma shot back, grinning in return. "I outgrew that thing years ago!"

"And I'd be embarrassed if that _toy_ could keep up with me!" Piccolo said, looking somehow both upset and amused becaused he was finding himself actually _agreeing_ with one of his enemies about something.

Goku's grin just widened before all three of them shot off into the sky at high speeds.

* * *

 **Raditz's spacepod**

"I'm gonna beat ya t'a pulp, ya big bully!" an angry young voice yelled. Kouma was fearlessly jumping about as he swung his feet, knees, fists, elbows, even trying headbutting the towering pillar of muscle that was the Saiyan warrior who'd kidnapped him and his brothers. Gohan and Hayato were cowering slightly behind the ostrich farmer's truck, peaking out around it to watch as their more courageous brother try to fight. For his part, Raditz couldn't keep the smirk off his face as he idly blocked and smacked the child about with his tail, keeping his arms crossed in a show of strength against the child.

"Well, well," Raditz said, quite amused. "Aren't you quite the fighter. It would seem that you alone inherited the Saiyan battle lust from your brothers."

"You better take us home or our daddies are—!" Kouma was silenced as a particularly strong blow caught him in the stomach. The blow sent him hurtling backwards for what would've been three dozen meters had the truck not been in the way. With a resounding smack and crash of metal, the boy slumped to the ground on the side of the truck, gagging slightly in pain while clutching his injuries.

"Kouma!" Gohan and Hayato yelled as they hurried around the truck to their brother. But where Gohan went to try and help his cousin, Hayato turned a glare upon Raditz in a look that the Saiyan knew all-too-well.

As the boy charged forward in a surprising burst of speed, Raditz's scouter pinged to life. It took more effort than he'd care to admit to when he dodged out of the way of the missile the child had become. "What the?! Power level of _696?!_ From a _child?!_ That's _impossible!_ "

As Hayato was recovering from the long skid that his momentum had sent him into, Raditz's scouter pinged again. Turning to face the duo behind him, he gawked at the new power that was resonating from Kouma as he climbed back to his feet with an angry glare on his face. "You too?! Power level of 688?! But it was only 25 a second ago!"

Kouma rushed forward again with a flying kick. Behind him, Raditz could hear Hayato also coming back into for the attack. Despite his surprise, incomprehension, and a good amount of fear, Raditz smirked as an idea came to him. As the boys drew closer, he idly slid to the side, leaving both boys on a collision course with each other. Kouma's foot buried itself in Hayato's gut while Hayato's fist landed heavily upon Kouma's nose, sending a fountain of blood into the air as they came apart. Before either boy could recover, Raditz leaned in and caught both of them, slamming their heads together in a double knockout blow.

Dropping the unconscious boys to the ground, Raditz spent a few moments just contemplating the bizarre event he'd just witnessed and partaken in. As had become a habit of his, Raditz started mumbling his thoughts aloud. "How could these kids have so much power at such an early age? Is it because they're Saiyan half-breeds? Or is it something else? Maybe because they were angry or had their battle instincts roused when the feisty one got hurt?"

His scouter then pinged a third time. Following it, he found himself gawking a third time. "And you too?! 710?! What _is it_ with this planet?!"

"Leave them alone!" Gohan yelled, giving into his anger and fear as he launched himself at Raditz in a headbutt.

But Raditz wasn't as taken aback as he had been with the two earlier. Having to use both hands, he caught Gohan before he could ram him. The force of the impact still sent the pair of them skid back a short distance, but Raditz was able to stay on his feet as the momentum was bled off. Then, once he'd regained a strong footing, he smacked Gohan to the ground with a strong blow, yanking the boy out of his anger as pain assailed his nervous system. This being the first real time he'd ever gotten struck with any amount of strength, Gohan reacted as any child would and started crying out loudly in pain. Despite the racket the brat was making, Raditz watched with interest as the boy's power plummeted back to its earlier level of 1.

"Well, that's interesting," Raditz muttered as he picked the boy up by his hanfu again. Gathering up the other two boys who were slowly starting to reawaken, Raditz headed for his spacepod. As long as the pod was locked up by the remote he carried under his armor, there was no way the boys randomly fiddling around inside it should cause any problems.

Climbing out of the crater, Raditz looked around in contemplation. "Now, time to rustle up something to eat."

* * *

 **Ten minutes later…**

With the winds lashing at their eyes, the three fighters glared as they rapidly approached the area that they could now vaguely sense Raditz in. Glancing down at the radar again, Goku nodded before returning the device to his ki-space pocket. "We're getting close, guys! We should probably head down so we can sneak up him."

"Forget it, it's no good!" Piccolo said as he spotted the Son brothers already starting to descend.

"What? What do you mean?" Ranma asked, glancing over at the demon.

"He's wearing a device that can detect our power levels," Piccolo stated, looking rather annoyed at the fact. "So, he can track our locations."

"What?" Goku said, looking somewhat upset and disappointed. "You mean he already knows we're on the way?"

"I'm saying that it's very likely!" Piccolo clarified.

"Well then," Ranma said, a tense grin appearing on his face. "I guess we go with the old Plan T approach, aniki!"

"Heh! I love Plan T!" Goku agreed, as he refocused on where his ki-sensory was now guiding him.

"And what's 'Plan T'?" Piccolo asked wearily, glancing between them. If he knew anything about these two, it was probably something too stupid to even be considered a plan.

"Take 'em By Storm!" both brothers cheered with matching wide grins.

Piccolo had to bite back the rebuke he _so_ desired to yell at them. It wouldn't have served any point. Especially since they could already see up ahead a crater in the earth and familiar figure standing before it, waiting for their arrival. Dropping down to the ground, the three of them landed side by side as they all glared over at Raditz.

"I was wondering who that third insignificant little blip on my scouter was," Raditz stated as he took a bite out of the fruit he was holding. "I must confess that I didn't expect to see you again, green man. You're a little more resourceful than I first thought, otouto. So, what brings you here, Kakarot? Have you already eliminated 100 Earthlings?"

"We're here to get our sons back!" Ranma snapped out. "Where are they?!"

It took a moment but when that sentence registered in Raditz's mind, he very visibly recoiled in shock. "' _Our sons_ '?! As in I took more than just Kakarot's brats?!"

"That's right!" Goku stated, the glare on his face matching Ranma's. "Gohan's my son. Hayato and Kouma are Ranma's."

" _What?!_ B-B-But _how?!_ " Raditz was truly on the backfoot as he struggled to understand. "For those boys to have tails too, must mean that either _he_ or their _mother_ is a _Saiyan too!_ But how?! You're the _only_ Saiyan who was ever recorded being sent to this world or _anywhere near it_ , Kakarot!"

"It doesn't really matter how I got to this planet, does it?" Ranma stated, ignoring Piccolo's surprised and searching gaze easily. "Whether I'm a Saiyan or not doesn't matter in the _least bit_. You have _our sons_ and we want them _back!_ "

After several moments of staring at Ranma with obvious interest, Raditz visibly recollected himself. Once he did, he shot them an enticing grin. "Well, I guess this makes for a truly unexpected bonus. Okay, how about a slight revision of my original offer? If you're truly a Saiyan, 'Ranma', I'll let you join us along with Kakarot. Of course, you'll still have to kill 100 Earthlings like him to prove your worth to me."

"And just like Goku, I'm gonna shove that offer right up your ass, ya porcupine!" Ranma shot back without a second's hesitation. "This is our home! And you're threatening it on top of kidnapping our children!"

Despite the smirk he was wearing, Raditz clutched upon the fruit in his hand so tightly it nearly exploded in his grip. He didn't even need to ask Kakarot to know that he too would refuse his honestly very generous offer out of hand. And, judging by the look in his eye, Kakarot clearly agreed with the mystery Saiyan beside him. "Alright then, you can have it _your way_ , Ranma, otouto. But I want you to know. I _didn't_ come here to kill you, _either of you_. But it seems that _you've_ left me no other choice. It's too bad. I think you would've found the life of a Saiyan warrior _quite_ invigorating!"

"Alright, that's enough talking!" Piccolo declared as he swept his armored pauldrons off his shoulders and tossed them behind them. The loud crash they made upon landing quickly drew the Saiyans' attentions as the demon stretched and worked his shoulders. "You know why we're here. So, let's get on with it!"

"Piccolo, you use weighted clothing too?" Goku asked in surprise as their ally dropped his turban to the ground.

"What? Did you really think you're the only ones who do that?" Still working his shoulders, a relieved grin spread across Piccolo's face. "Oh yeah. I feel so much lighter now."

' _His power level just jumped from 480 to 557,_ ' Raditz thought as his scouter started recalculating the three opponents before him as they all started discarding their weighted clothes. Turning his gaze upon Kakarot, he frowned. ' _His level went from 485 to 560, and this 'Ranma' from 477 to 553_.' But despite being outnumbered 3 to 1 against opponents who were all about one-third his total strength, Raditz couldn't help chuckling loudly as his Saiyan blood started pumping at the thought of finally getting a real fight and some actual quality training.

"Do you guys really think that's going to make a difference?" he asked snidely. He was well aware of the fact that, if done properly, together the three of them could probably beat him. But he wasn't going to let them know that! So, he slipped back into his tried and true method of fighting when facing odds that were not in his favor; psychological warfare. So, in a show of blustering arrogance, he crossed his arms and mockingly stated, "Who do you think I am?! A few weights aren't going to affect the outcome of this fight! I'm still _ten times_ stronger than you are!"

"More like only _three_ times stronger, actually," Ranma shot back just as confidently. "So, I'd say the odds are pretty even right now."

"Besides," Goku chimed in. "Strength _isn't_ the only thing that matters! Not when you can _outsmart_ or _outmaneuver_ your opponent!"

Raditz's confident posture didn't waver in the least. But he did file away the accidental hint that Kakarot just dropped. Clearly the three of them had a plan in place that they were putting all their hopes on. Although, plans and cunning only accounted for so much against an enemy who was so drastically stronger than the other. Raditz knew that all-too-well after a lifetime of serving the arrogant Prince and Lord Freeza. "You really don't understand anything, do you, otouto? You wanna know something…I think I've changed my mind. I don't want you to join us. _You'd only slow us down! YOU'RE A DISGRACE TO_ _ **ALL SAIYANS! NOW**_ _ **PREPARE TO DIE**_ _ **!**_ "

In a burst of speed, Raditz blitzed towards the trio before any of them could properly react. He kicked Kakarot right in the stomach, sending him flying a short distance away. Then, just as fast, he twisted and lashed out with a simultaneous kick and punch to the sides. The blows hit Ranma and Piccolo in their sides and knocking them away, leaving Raditz standing in the center of the three fighters. All three of them were recoiling in pain and surprise, having rather underestimated Raditz's speed and being caught completely by surprise by it.

Chuckling as he straightened himself back upright again, Raditz called out, "Well, I will give you guys this much. You certainly do know how to take a punch. Good! That should make this all that much more enjoyable! Let's see just how much pain you can really withstand!"

' _I knew he was strong, but I didn't expect him to be_ _ **this**_ _much stronger!_ ' Piccolo snarled to himself.

' _I need to find a way to grab his tail!_ ' Goku thought desperately.

' _That scouter of his can read our movements. If I take it out, he'll be practically blind!_ ' were Ranma's thoughts.

"What's wrong?" Raditz asked, smirking broadly. "You look so pensive. Still trying to 'outsmart' me? Well, your situation is even more hopeless than you realize! Hehehehe! If you think I'm strong now, just wait until I catch my stride! Truth be told, I'm just getting warmed up!" All three of them recoiled slightly in distraught fear at the thought of such a thing. Raditz was proving to be hard enough to handle as he was now! If he wasn't even really trying right now…

"By Kami, you are arrogant!" Ranma growled. Although he easily recognized Raditz's tactic, that didn't mean that what he said was any less true. Still, while the Saotome School specialized in taunting like that, it did also offer some good ways of playing up to an enemy's arrogance. "If you're really so all-powerful, why don't you come over here and show me!"

"Wait up!" Goku called before Raditz could move to take up Ranma's challenge. "Before we get to that, where are our sons?!"

"Ha! Your little son? You really think you can save him?" Raditz sneered.

Rather than get angry, Goku looked over towards Ranma. Ranma gestured behind him. As Goku glanced over the lip of the crater to look into the spacepod's window, Raditz shot Ranma a slightly confused look, raising his brow questioningly. Seeing the obvious question on the older Saiyan's face, Ranma said, "Sensing ki is a specialty of mine."

"Oh really?" Raditz growled. ' _So, this one doesn't need the use of scouter to detect ki? That'd be nifty little trick to learn. But it also means that he's probably the first one I need to kill_.' Seeing Goku return and ready himself for the rematch, Raditz put that thought aside for now as he refocused on the present. "Well then, shall we get back to it?"

"Ready, guys?" Goku called out. Piccolo just growled in response while Ranma barked out a simple "Yeah!"

With loud cries, Goku and Piccolo both charged forward head-on towards Raditz while Ranma swung around to rush his back. Raditz let them approach, his smirk unwavering. As the two reluctant allies drew close, they lashed out in a flurry of punches and kicks, none of which landed as Raditz smoothly dodged each and every one without seeming to try. But despite how much effort those two were trying to put into their attacks and keeping his attention focused on them, Raditz still kept an eye on Ranma's progress. Thus, when he sailed in with a spinning kick towards the back of his head, Raditz was ready for it and easily ducked under the blow. Letting his third opponent pass harmlessly over him, Raditz bounced back a few paces as Goku and Piccolo were forced to disengage and separate to avoid Ranma's missed kick.

As he landed lightly on the ground, Ranma and Goku both launched themselves forward together. This time, Raditz had a noticeably harder time dodging their attacks. When one aimed low, the other struck from up high. When one dodged to the side, the other pressed the attack. They never let up and it was abundantly clear to Raditz that they had years of experience fighting alongside one another to fight this smoothly. Within just a few moments of this new attack pattern, Raditz was forced to start blocking rather than just dodge everything. Dashing to and fro, trying to attack him at unexpected angles, also forced him to ramp up his speed in response just to stay ahead of them.

Deciding to break their momentum, Raditz suddenly planted himself to the ground as the two dashed around him in circles, trying to confuse him. But as they rushed his back, as he knew they would, he jumped up and kicked out with both feet, striking both in the faces and sending them tumbling away several paces. To their credit, both of them recovered instantly and charged again. However, Raditz shot up into the air, smirking down at them as he gathered ki into his palms. Just as he knew they would, both young men flew up to engage him in the air. But just as they nearly reached him and when they had little chance of dodging, he unleashed his ki blasts, "Double Sunday!"

But both of them did manage to dodge the ki beams, which carried on towards the ground and exploded spectacularly, creating two more massive craters. Swept up in the dust and ash, Ranma and Goku dropped back to the ground as they struggled to clear their eyes.

"Where'd he go?!" Goku yelled as he struggled to bring his ki-sense to bear.

"Right here!" Raditz answered as he reappeared behind Ranma, already lashing out with a devastating kick to the young man's neck. But his surprise attack didn't work as he'd hoped since Ranma had been able to sense his approach and already brought up his arm to defend himself. The powerful blow may have shattered his forearm bones, causing him to cry out in agony as he sent tumbling to the side, but Ranma wasn't too upset about it. He'd still managed to protect his neck and his life.

"Ranma!" Goku called out, having both heard and seen his arm breaking. "You okay?!"

Unsteadily climbing back to his feet as he clutched his wounded arm gingerly, Ranma shot Raditz an angry glare. "I think…I can…still fight!"

Despite himself, Raditz broke out in laughter. " _THAT'S SUCH A SAIYAN THING TO DO! HAHAHAHA!_ _Still fighting, even when you have a broken arm!_ Maybe you really _are_ a Saiyan!"

Then his grin turned sadistic as he suddenly spun around and launched another ki beam towards where Piccolo had been standing. The green demon had been holding back from joining the fight order to let the two brothers fight and wear down the Saiyan warrior, and also be worn down by him as well. That would've made killing all three of them at once all the easier. Caught by surprise, Piccolo was unable to entirely dodge the ki beam, losing his left arm almost all the way up to the shoulder. Crying out and growling in pain himself as he collapsed to his knees, Piccolo shot Raditz a furious glare at the surprise attack.

"Come now!" Raditz called out in a rather jovial voice. "I'm not just fighting _these two_ , am I? Come, join in the fun, green man!"

"Piccolo! You alright?!" Goku asked, now really starting to get worried since he was clearly the last viable fighter left.

"Yeah, it's not as bad as it looks," Piccolo said, clutching at the stump he had left. After a moment of recollecting himself, he stumbled over towards where his allies were catching their breath. Raditz just let him move, watching with his ever-present smirk on his face. Once he was close enough, Piccolo quietly said, "Listen, Goku, Ranma. If you've got any new techniques you've been waiting to use, now's the time!"

"Heh, I wish I could say I did," Goku admitted quietly. "But all of the new ones I've been able to learn wouldn't really do anything more than amuse him at this point. And, unlike Ranma, I can't use that same tornado attack he used on you at the tournament. So, that's out."

"I was focused more on learning kata and martial arts than ki attacks," Ranma whispered. "And with just one arm, ki attacks are really all I can offer right now. And even if I _could_ bring the Hiryu Shoten Ha to bare, he's too damn fast. I'd never finish the dance before he makes the kill… But maybe I do have something. But it's untested." Ranma muttered as he combed his memory for any technique that could give them the edge they needed to save the boys. Only one provided him with all that he needed to safely grab onto the older Saiyan's tail. But it truly _disgusted_ him that he was being forced to use this technique at all!

"Heh," Piccolo snorted in wry amusement. "Well, that makes two of us. Tell me, is this new attack of yours anything like your tornado?"

"No, it's more…subtle. But it'll definitely give us the opening we need. How about yours?" Ranma questioned.

"Haven't you figured it out yet that all your planning and trying to 'outsmart' me _won't work!_ " Raditz interrupted loudly. "Whisper all you want because it _won't_ do you any good! You're still going to _die!_ "

"So, you think this attack of yours will do some actual damage on him, Piccolo?" Goku asked.

"Yeah, and I can do it with one arm," Piccolo hissed back. "But the problem is that it takes me a while to gather the necessary ki. You two'll have to distract him for at least five minutes."

"Oh, _that_ won't be hard _at all_ ," Ranma snipped irritably. Normally, he'd have loved the challenge and getting to fight against such a strong opponent, just like Goku. But his boys were in danger! He wasn't in the mood for fun and games. Not to mention the fact that he was already handicapped pretty substantially.

"If you're sure it'll work, we'll do our best to hold him off," Goku said after just a glance at Ranma.

"Well, truthfully, mine's still untested too," Piccolo admitted with something approaching sheepish embarrassment. "I was hoping to save it for a special occasion, like killing the two of you."

"And now you're using it help us," Goku chuckled quietly, alongside Ranma. "You must be so _disappointed_."

"No, this'll be a good test," Piccolo countered easily. "And if it works right, you two are next!"

"Ha!" "Figures!" both brothers laughed.

"That wasn't _intended_ to be _funny_!" Piccolo growled, glancing at them in annoyance.

"It was _kinda_ funny!" Ranma murmured unrepentantly, earning an annoyed snarl from Piccolo.

"Well, off we go!" Goku said, readying himself.

With a battle cry, Goku charged Raditz head-on. Ranma raced off to the side as he gathered ki around himself. Piccolo brought his fingers up to his brow as he started concentrating deeply. Raditz's grin returned as he felt his blood started pumping in excitement once again. These three may have concocted a plan between them but with just how badly in fighting shape they were, he really wasn't as concerned now as he had been at the start of this fight. Raditz's smirk stayed on his face as Goku foolishly engaged him in combat alone. Fists flew, knees were blocked, and kicks were dodged at furious rates as the two jumped here and there across the battlefield.

Once he was a respectable distance from the fray, and thus unlikely to get drawn into accidentally, Ranma really started channeling his ki. Drawing on lessons learn from Cologne about the natures of hot and cold ki, and remembering what he'd seen Genma doing during that last Neriman melee, Ranma set to work. His ki became temperature neutral, neither hot nor cold, his emotions slipped away from him as he focused on the sounds of nature, his heartrate slowed as his adrenaline-laced body calmed down. But all of that was only the internal changes he was undergoing. Visibly, an aura of wavering ki manifested around him, shimmering and flickering like a mirage around him, distorting his image. The denser this aura became, the more transparent his body grew. After several long moments, he finally attained a state of oneship with nature around himself as his body fully vanished from the visible spectrum of the human eye.

The moment this was achieved, he moved. Racing forward towards the brawl, Ranma almost allowed elation to reach him as he saw that from this angle Raditz had his back to him and his tail was completely unguarded. Seeing victory so close, he paid no heed to how the older Saiyans were fighting as he drew rapidly closer. Just as he was almost upon the limb and was reaching out for the tail, Raditz suddenly spun around with a wide sweeping kick. The attack was so sudden and unexpected that Ranma wasn't able to muster up a defense in time. He was hit squarely in his shoulder and knocked aside, the Umisenken cloak instantly slipping away from him as he lost his concentration.

"Ranma!" Goku cried out but was forced to defend himself as Raditz continued his sweeping kick, landing a second blow in his brother's gut and sending him skidding back as well.

Picking himself off the ground, Ranma stared at Raditz with honest surprise on his face. "How'd you do that?! I should've been invisible to you!"

"Hahahahah! Oh, make no mistake! You were!" Raditz laughed, enjoying this far more than he probably should've. Reaching up, he lightly tapped his scouter in an affectionate manner as he continued, "But my scouter could _still_ detect your ki! Don't you realize yet that _sneak attacks_ won't work on me? Especially with a power spike of 950 like that!"

Gritting his teeth in anger for a moment, Ranma glared at Raditz. But then his frown turned into a grin. "Well then, let's see just how good you are at multitasking!"

Before Raditz could question him, Ranma suddenly faded back under the Umisenken again as a battle cry came from the Goku behind him. Bouncing to the side in an effort to limit the approach angles the two men could take, Raditz watched with dawning realization of what Ranma had implied. The young man appeared next to the charging Goku, flickering in and out of visibility constantly, almost like he was performing multiple Afterimages and speeding dashes.

At first, the older Saiyan found himself smirking at the tactic. It was not the most exotic technique he had seen, but it was definitely not a tactic any self-respecting Saiyan would ever use. This changed quickly when his brother entered the center of his field of vision with a heavy right straight. As he crossed his arms to block the punch, he felt the foot ax into his forehead almost at the exact moment his scouter told him that an invisible presence was right above Kakarot. Raditz stopped smirking then as he swatted his brother aside with one arm, and used the other to sweep the space that the annoying bug seemed to be in.

Ranma, however, was ready this time and was already out of the position he'd been in and was now occupying the space left absent by Goku. He pounded upward with three swift uppercuts to Raditz's exposed armpit, earning both a wince from the older Saiyan and a boot connecting with his broken arm in a swift retaliatory kick. Stifling a scream of pain, Ranma spun with the kick just in time to see Goku attack, blindsiding Raditz as he paid too much attention to using his scouter to locate his invisible foe. And this was merely the start.

Blocking Goku's furious punches, Raditz gathered ki into his palm for a Saturday Crush, but what felt like 300 punches in three seconds suddenly hammered into his side. Though the punches alone didn't hurt that much, they cracked and damaged his armor on that side and distracted his concentration. Lashing out with a kick, he hit only air as Ranma momentarily became visible while he dodged behind Goku. Twisting on his foot, Raditz turned his sidekick into a sweep that Goku was forced to block, interrupting his own attack sequence for a second.

Deciding to regain control of the fight, Raditz went on the offensive, lunging his knee into Goku's gut and sending him away for a moment. Once he did, he glanced back at his scouter to try and relocate where Ranma was. Getting a reading from behind him, Raditz spun around while crouching low, swinging his arm out in a sweeping backhand. He definitely hit something that caused Ranma to cry out in pain before he reappeared again, one of his knees twisted a slightly awkward angle as he collapsed onto his hands and knees.

Standing up again, he tried to lash out with a mighty kick, a cry from Goku and a swinging leg filled his vision as his brother tried to kick him in the face from behind. Though he caught the kick on his hard forehead and safely protected his scouter from damage, it did snap his head back and send him floundering a few steps backwards. By the time he could reorient himself and shake off the minor beginnings of a headache, Goku was once again in front of him and Ranma had vanished from sight again.

Quickly summoning his ki, Raditz launched a blast straight into Goku's torso before he could truly reengage with him, knocking him away and forcing Ranma to reveal himself as he dodged around his brother's flying body. Glaring at the young man even though he was speaking to all of them. "Okay, quite a troublesome little trick you've got there, I'll admit. Had you been any stronger, I'd be in _pain_ right now."

Raising his hand into the air, a pink ball of ki formed. Gripping it tightly, Raditz yelled out, "Here, let me show you one of _my_ tricks! Saturday Crush!" To the surprise of all, he threw it not at Ranma, but at Goku who was sprinting back to reengage him. Caught by surprise, all Goku could do was bring his arms forward into a basic guard position and tank the blast.

Rather than pressing his brother, Raditz again turned away and dashed for Ranma, who wasn't able to pull up the Umisenken in time before Raditz was upon him. Predicting that he would lead with a flying kick, Ranma bounced up into the air just as he reached him. Sure enough, Raditz did kick out. Ranma used his good hand to push off the leg and send a spinning kick of his own. The next few moments were a jumble for Raditz as he quickly found himself struggling against perhaps one of the most unpredictable and bizarre fighting styles he'd ever seen before (and he'd seen the Ginyu Force in action once, so _that_ was saying something!). Even when limited to just one arm, Ranma proved his absolute mastery of the style by dancing circles around the Saiyan. Only Raditz's superior speed allowed him to keep up with the unruly young fighter.

"Piccolo! Do it now!" Ranma yelled midway through a sequence.

However, that call had unintentionally alerting Raditz of what was to come, causing him to finally notice another blip on his scouter. Glancing hurriedly over at the green man, he gawked in horror as he read what the scouter had been detecting for a while but he'd not been able to notice until now. "I-Impossible! 1,930! I can't block that!"

"If you wish, Ranma," Piccolo answered with a growl, grinning in delight. Even if he missed Raditz, he might still hit Ranma. And while he still might need the brothers' help in case he did miss, he wouldn't shed any tears about accidentally killing the young man who'd beaten him once. Jabbing his fingers forward, Piccolo sent his newest technique flying. "Makankōsappō!"

A split second before the strange spiraling beam was upon them, both combatants ceased their fight and sprang apart desperately to avoid it. It was a close thing for both of them. Ranma ended losing a portion of his left pants leg as the spiraling beams nicked his side, landing in a painful sprawl due to the accumulating damage his legs had been gaining for the past few minutes. Raditz found himself losing the more than half of his right pauldron with his shoulder being reddened and slightly bleeding from the graze he had endured. The look of absolute fury on his face was missed by no one as he spread his hands, golden ki balls bursting to life in his palms almost instantly.

" _DOUBLE SUNDA—_ _ **AAAAAYYYYEEEEEE!**_ " his battle cry quickly changed into a cry of pain as mind-crippling agony shot up his spine, causing the ki attack to fizzle out and vanish. Look behind him, Raditz saw what he already knew had happened, Goku gripping his tail tightly.

"You got distracted," Goku playfully chided with an almost childish grin on his face. Raditz could make no immediate reply as his knees buckled and he dropped to the ground, barely catching himself with his hands. Looking up, Goku asked, "Piccolo, can you do that attack again?"

"Yeah," the demon nodded, already bringing his hand back to his forehead. "I've got just enough for one more blast! So, don't let him go!"

"You guys think you can handle it?" Ranma asked as he pushed himself back onto his feet weakly. Now that combat had ended for the moment, the adrenaline in his body was starting to fade, bringing to the fore just how badly injured he really was. He gamely did his best to ignore the nearly crippling pain that was pulsing from all over his body as he turned for the crater. "Then, I'll go get the boys out."

"Hurry up, Ranma!" Goku said, not taking his gaze off Raditz as he clutched the brown limb in his grasp. "He might have more tricks up his sleeve!"

Ranma didn't answer verbally, but he did take off at a faster pace than he would've, flying quickly over to the crater and the waiting spacepod therein. Dropping down gingerly in front of the only window on the thing, Ranma easily saw the scared and angry faces of the three boys inside. Kouma and Hayato were both crowding around the window, beating on it with all of their strength as Gohan cuddled on the seat wailing loudly in fear. However, upon seeing their dad appear outside the pod, Kouma and Hayato both let out happy cries as their angry expressions turned joyful. This sudden change earned Gohan's attention who quickly joined them at the window, laughing as he stared up at his beloved uncle.

"Hey, sluggers!" Ranma called out, waving to them with his good hand as he sent them a pained smile. "Don't worry! I'll get you out of there in just a moment!" So saying, he moved slightly off to the side as he looked around the surface of the pod, searching for some kind of doorknob or control panel. But the thing was completely smooth with nothing but the lines of the door to disturb its perfection. "Okay, guess I'll just have to break it open!"

Raising his hand and channeling his ki into his fingers, he jabbed his arm forward, burying his fingers into the tiny crack between the door and the pod. The space metal gave way like papier-mâché, allowing him to easily grasp ahold of the interior. Planting his foot upon the side of the pod, he heaved mightily and wrenched the door open, tearing it off it's hinges in a spray of torn metal, plastic, and circuitry. He barely had the time to drop the broken thing off to the side before two small missiles slammed into his torso with happy cries of "Daddy!"

Stumbling back, Ranma collapsed awkwardly to his rump with a groan of pain as the boys aggravated several different wounds he had. "C-C-Careful, boys! Daddy's really… _sore_ right now."

"You and Uncle Goku really beat up that big bully, Daddy?!" Hayato asked, his eyes shining just as excitedly and happily as Kouma's were. Even Gohan seemed quite happy, waiting with barely held patience for his chance to embrace his uncle.

"We could hear you inside that thing!" Kouma said, shivering with excitement. "It sounded _awesome!_ "

"Eheheheh, well, hopefully it's over now," Ranma chuckled weakly as he climbed back to his feet, rubbing Gohan on the head affectionately as he came up to him. "Come on, let's get you guys out of here." Climbing the crater took a surprising amount of effort for Ranma as his injuries were really starting to make themselves known and he was reduced to limping weakly and needing to be supported by the boys just to reach the lip. But when they crested the top, they came upon a terrible scene that wasn't what they'd expected.

Goku and Raditz's positions had been reversed from what Ranma had last seen of them. Raditz was beginning to stomp cruelly down on Goku's chest in an effort to break his ribs and keep him down. Goku, exhausted and in pain, could do little more than scream in agony with each successive blow to his increasingly fractured and breaking chest. " _I **WANT** TO—HEAR YOU— **BEG** —FOR **MERCY!**_ "

"Hey!" Ranma yelled, attracting Raditz's attention.

It took a slight moment for the implications to sink in, but when they did, Raditz threw a positively furious glare over at him and the kids. "You! Wait, if they're out here, then— _What did you DO to my POD?!_ "

Before Ranma could answer, a furious new power was detected as it shot skywards. Ranma turned a startled gaze down upon Gohan who was glaring over at Raditz with the most angry expression he'd ever seen on the boy's face before. Raditz himself was finding himself gawking again as his scouter registered the rocketing power level of the child again. But unlike last time, it didn't top off at 710, but kept rising. "N-N-No! _Not again! 1,307! BUT HOW?! HE'S JUST A_ _ **LITTLE BRAT!**_ "

"LEAVE MY DAD ALONE!" Gohan screamed at the top of his lungs as he became enshrouded in an aura of golden ki, rocketing at Raditz at speeds beyond what any of the adults could match. Raditz had absolutely no chance to do anything but stare in incomprehension as the small headbutted him mightily in the chest. His armor's chest plates were shattered and his breastbone and numerous ribs cracking or breaking outright on impact, leaving his stumbling backwards in a pained daze, clutching at his chest and heaving for breath.

Everyone just stared at Gohan in complete shock as he pushed himself up from the ground, looking as docile as he always was. None was more shocked than Goku, who couldn't take his eyes off of his son in that moment as numerous conflicting emotions warred for dominance in his mind and heart. "Gohan?"

"Wh-Wh-What was thaaaaat?" Raditz demanded as he managed to finally regain his footing, glaring demandingly over at his nephew. In doing so, he saw what his scouter had once again recalculated this kid's level to be again. "P-P-Power level of **_2?!_** Again?! Hey, kid! What happened…to all that _power_ you just had?!" His glare couldn't get any darker as he stomped back over to Gohan, towering over him threateningly.

"Wh-Wh-What power?" Gohan asked fearfully.

At the end of his patience, Raditz snarled in anger, "Play dumb if you like! You'll pay for that all the same!" and promptly smacked Gohan aside, knocking the poor boy out. Turning his gaze back to Ranma, his dark glare intensified as he summoned as large chunk of his ki into his palm. " _As for you! THIS IS FOR **DESTROYING MY SHIP!**_ _ **SATURDAY CRUSH!**_ "

The oncoming blast of ki was massive. The smart thing to do would've been to get the hell out of the way of it. But with as injured as he was and having both of his sons cowering behind him in fear at seeing what even they knew was something that would surely kill them, Ranma had absolutely no choice in his next action. He leapt forward, putting as much distance between him and his sons as he could manage, his good hand out in front to try and catch the blast somehow. The blast slammed into him like an out of control freight train, its burning ki washing over and enveloping him completely as it ignited. He didn't remember screaming when it did that, but it wouldn't have surprised him if he had. All Ranma was aware of was feeling that blast as it ate away at him, burning, slicing, and piercing his body remorselessly. And though it only lasted a couple of seconds, it may as well have been an eternity for him.

When the smoke and dust started clearing, everyone beheld the charred and bloodied body that was Ranma, still somehow on his feet with his arms now spread out. Then, like a great tree toppling over, the body fell limply forward and didn't move again. Not a hint of life or ki remained within. To protect his beloved sons, Son Ranma had made the ultimate sacrifice.

"Now, to finish the job!" Raditz snarled, raising his hands to form a Double Sunday. At this point, he was well beyond any inclination of bring Goku, his nephew, or those other two boys into the fold. He was angry, in pain, and quickly starting to run low on his own stamina. He wanted to end this and end it now! But before he could fully form his attack, a pair of strong arms shot up from behind him and locked behind his neck, trapping him in a Full Nelson. "What the?!"

"You…killed…Ranma!" Goku growled out, his fury and what was left of his adrenaline allowing him to ignore his own shattered ribs. "I…won't let…you…get away again! _PICCOLO!_ "

Suddenly reminded of the green man, who'd been quietly biding his time this whole time, subtly building up his ki again, Raditz looked over towards him and saw to his horror that the man's fingers were glowing a familiar ominous golden color as a devilish grin spread across his face. The realization of Goku's plan was immediately clear to Raditz, causing him to redouble struggles. But due to Goku's unwavering grip and his broken ribs, Raditz could do little more than flail his arms helplessly. Not to mention that the crippling pain he was in was greatly affecting his ability to channel his ki, so he couldn't even take flight to escape!

"Are you crazy, Kakarot?!" Raditz yelled. "From this angle, he'll kill us both!"

"That's the point!" Goku grunted out. "As long as the Earth's safe, I don't care!"

As the brothers continued to argue over the merits of life and death and Piccolo reached the final steps of completing his attack, they had all forgotten about a minor detail. Two small details, in point of face. But they were all quickly reminded of these details when a pair of flaring powers made themselves known.

" _YOU KILLED DADDY!_ " Hayato and Kouma screamed. They had been trying futilely to rouse their father, hoping against hope that their incredible and oftentimes playful father was just playing a prank or was enacting some kind of elaborate plan to catch the big hairy bully by surprise before beating him. But the longer they'd tried to rouse him or get any type of response, the more they'd realized what had happened, why it had, and who was responsible. Most normal kids would've broken down in tears, wailing to the heavens. But these two were both Saiyans, their natural reactions were slightly different. That being: if they were hurt, then _kill the thing who hurt them!_

Like Gohan, blazing auras erupted around the boys as their levels shot up and they charged Raditz in a blind and raging fury. They were so out of it that they couldn't even comprehend Goku and Piccolo both yelling at them to stop, to back away. All they saw was the man who'd killed their daddy and they were going to kill him!

"1,245! 1,193!" Raditz yelled as he could do little more than watch as the duo closed in on him, tears trailing from their reddened eyes as they cocked their fists back. They both landed powerful punches to stomach, knocking the wind from him and almost causing him to lose his lunch. Seeing the looks of absolute rage in their eyes, Raditz knew they were nowhere near finished with him yet.

However, as they were dropping to the ground, Goku made a fast decision. Like Raditz, he could see their intent as well. They wouldn't stop until they'd either vented their pain and rage, were knocked out of their berserk states, or killed Raditz. Considering just how powerful they were, they actually had a very real chance of doing just that. But that was only a _chance_. He and Piccolo already had a surefire way of winning ready, but Goku was sure that Piccolo couldn't hold that much ki restrained and focused for too long. Worse still, he doubted Piccolo would even care if he killed Ranma's sons in the process. That meant that they couldn't wait for the boys to snap out of their tunnel vision. That meant that it fell to Goku to take action somehow. And considering neither boy seemed to capable of listening to anyone…

With a heavy heart, Goku was forced to loosen his grip under one of Raditz's arms so that he could reach forward and smack Hayato to the side, purposely into Kouma, and throwing both boys aside. " _ **PICCOLO!**_ "

Piccolo didn't miss an instant, jabbing his fingers forward. "Makankōsappō!"

However, Goku's choice in that moment would prove to have unexpected consequences. For the same moment that Goku had released his arm to knock aside the boys, Raditz sprung at the chance to escape. Fueled by fear and desperation, adrenaline gushing as his heart raced faster than it'd ever had before, Raditz grasped Goku's last restraining arm with both hands and heaved. Even with how badly it jostled his injuries, for just that split second, Raditz was able to muster the strength needed to rip his brother's arm free and leap aside. By this point, Piccolo had already unleashed his attack and it was rapidly closing the distance between them. Taken by surprise, Goku had absolutely no chance to dodge and was pierced through the chest by the Makankōsappō.

Goku collapsed limply to the ground with a pained and horrified gaze in his eyes. Piccolo wasn't much better. In his mind, he was doing a lot of processing of what had just happened and what the implications meant. Yes, he may have missed the target. And though that target was indeed badly injured, thanks to the brats of his true enemies, he was still a viable threat to him. But at the same time he'd just unintentionally killed his main enemy and avenged his father, as per his father's dying request. It may not have been the double-helping of cake he'd hoped for, but damn if it didn't feel good! And yet, now that both of his enemies were dead, that left him as the last one standing who had any chance against this long-haired maniac and he'd already seen what he could do against an opponent of equal strength to himself. Was he doomed to follow his enemies so shortly after them due to a pair of undisciplined brats and a bleeding heart?!

But Piccolo wasn't the only one reassessing the situation frantically. Yes, he was still more powerful than the Namekian. His scouter dutifully reported a drastic drop in ki reserves in Piccolo following that last attack. But he was also very badly injured, which would unmistakably slow him down and presented irresistible targets for the far more cunning warrior. And there was fact that not only was he injured, but the two little powerhouses nearby were still up and ready to tear him apart. Yes, he might've been able to take them if he was fresh, but he wasn't. If he went down again, then he really might die! As much as he hated to be reduced to this, this called for a strategic withdrawal!

Still running on the wisps of adrenaline that helped free him, Raditz sent a simple but strong ki blast towards the frozen Namekian. He did that because the two boys were still recoiling from Goku's blow to them and hadn't yet regained their footing. This made Piccolo the most clear and present danger. The oncoming attack was enough to snap the petrified fighter out of it, causing him to lunge frantically to the side in a desperate dodge. As Piccolo was occupied by the ki blast, Raditz turned and raced away as fast he could manage, disappearing from view quickly as he dropped in among the rolling hills of the area. By the time Piccolo regained his footing and looked around, ready for another surprise attack and the return of combat, Raditz was long gone.

* * *

( **Author's Note** ) Whew! That was a rush! Once I really got my teeth into the meat of the chapter, it just wouldn't stop! I know that a lot you are going to complain about me following canon so closely, but honestly I don't care. We're writing this story as we want to and how we enjoy it. Besides, the devil's in the details and there's a lot of subtle stuff that can be overlooked by glazing over stuff like that. But while I'm sure that a lot of you were unsurprised to see Ranma dying here, alongside Goku, for what is probably pretty obvious reasons, I wonder how many of you saw that final twist with Raditz coming? Be honest! I really wanna know! Can any of you guess what we've got planned for the long-lost brother of Goku I wonder?

Makankōsappō – Demon's Penetrating Killing Light Gun – Special Beam Cannon

 **Power Levels:  
** Raditz ( **age 30** ): 1,500  
Goku ( **age 24** ): 485 (with weights), 560 (no weights)  
Piccolo ( **age 9** ): 480 (with weights), 557 (no weights), 1,930 (SBC 1), 2,180 (SBC 2)  
Ranma ( **age 21** ): 477 (with weights), 553 (no weights), 950 (Umisenken)  
Shampoo ( **age 21** ): 468 (with weights), 481 (angry)  
Cologne ( **physical age 40** ): 468  
Chichi ( **age 24** ): 297  
Krillin ( **age 24** ): 246

Kouma ( **age 3** ): 25 (normal), 688 (angry), 1,245 (enraged)  
Hayato ( **age 3** ): 2 (normal), 696 (angry), 1,193 (enraged)  
Gohan ( **age 4** ): 1 (normal), 710 (angry), 1,307 (enraged)

Yamcha ( **age 28** ): 177  
Ukyo ( **age 21** ): 169  
Bulma Briefs ( **age 28** ): 12  
Kasumi Tendo ( **age 24** ): 5


	10. The Pale Horse

**.**

 **Son Ranma  
** Written By: _Tellemicus Sundance_  
Co-Authored by: _Fiori75_  
 _#10: The Pale Horse_

 **October 12, Age 761  
Near Raditz's spacepod**

"GET BACK HERE!" screamed the blue-haired toddler as he and his brother raced off after the fleeing Saiyan.

Piccolo just watched the duo leave with a look of exasperated amusement. Regardless of that insane amount of power they had, they definitely had their father's fighting spirit. That was a very good thing, he realized as he continued watching them until they vanished over the far side of a hill as a plan already started forming in his mind. That fighting spirit of theirs meant that it shouldn't be all that hard to whip them into fighting shape in the coming months.

Once they were lost to sight, he turned his attention skywards, where he watched a large jetcopter descend. Over the roar and whine of the engines, he could faintly make out at least six different voices and definitely sensed three fighters of notable power. ' _It would seem the Son brothers' friends have finally managed to arrive. Too little, too late, though_.'

He paid them no further mind as he walked over and collected his discarded pauldron cloak. As he dropped its familiar weight over his shoulders, he stopped for a moment of intense concentration. After a few seconds, a fresh arm burst out of his stump with a splatter of green mucus. Once done and shaking the mucus off his arm, he walked over towards the still barely alive Goku. As much as it brought a pleased sense of fulfillment to his heart, Piccolo strangely found himself yearning for his hated enemy to climb back up to his feet and be ready to battle once again. After all, because the Saiyan had fled, he was still very much a threat to the world and Goku's help would be greatly appreciated in dealing with him.

Pushing that thought aside, he said, "Goku, don't worry. He's gone now. Your boys' crazy powers must've spooked him and Raditz ran off."

"Is…Gohan…safe?" Goku gasped out weakly.

Glancing over at the last child who was still around, Piccolo nodded. "He's unconscious, but alive."

"That's…good." There was a visible release of tension from Goku's spasming frame as he hissed that out. "Thank…you."

"Goku!" Krillin yelled as he took a flying leap out of the jet for his downed friend with Yamcha and Roshi right at his heels. Shampoo and Kasumi went rushing over towards Ranma's form.

For Shampoo, as she drew closer, she came to a stumbling halt. Her ki senses weren't lying to her, she knew it. There was no life left in her beloved husband's body. The injuries she could see on his body were all debilitating, but the worst were the ki burns that had punched through his torso, burning, piercing, and ravishing everything in their path. The agony he must've been in when he died could have only been nothing short of crippling. Her world started slowly falling away, becoming a blurry, black void which consisted of nothing but her and her husband's corpse that lay at her feet. She didn't realize that she was crying. She didn't feel her knees give out from underneath. She was barely aware of her gingerly grabbing ahold of Ranma's cooling body and pulling him into a frantic embrace.

But she was frighteningly aware of the terrible cracks and fissures that were rapidly opening up in her heart, threatening to rend it asunder. When this terrible pain started becoming too much for her bear, Shampoo gently released her grasp him and set him down. Then she turned away and let out a scream that embodied all of her pain in that moment, beating her arms and fists against the ground with all her might, creating large cracks and fissures around her as the ground shook from her wrath and pain. It was only after several minutes of her crying and uselessly beating the ground that Shampoo finally started returning from her despair and become aware of the world around her once again.

And that also happened to be the moment that she was able to watch Ranma's body suddenly and inexplicably vanish into nothingness. "AIREN?! Where'd Airen go?!"

"It happened to Ranma too?!" Roshi called over from where he, Krillin, and Yamcha had been crouched over Goku's body, which had also conspicuously disappeared. "What's happening here?!"

"I know, it was Kami," Piccolo said with a knowing smirk on his face as he attracted everyone's attentions. "The Guardian of the Earth. Yes, this is his work. No doubt he has something special planned for those two in the Otherworld."

"Kami? Really?" Roshi asked. "Well, at least we don't have worry about anything nefarious from this happening."

Thanks to her looking towards the group, Shampoo finally noticed the small figure of Gohan who was being held gently in Bulma's arms. The sight of the toddler was enough to snap Shampoo back into her mother mode, causing her to jump to her feet and look around frantically for her own boys. But no matter where she looked or how far she stretched her ki senses, she couldn't find them! Turning and rushing up to Piccolo, startling the demon slightly as she grabbed handfuls of his gi, she demanded, "Where – Are – My – SONS?!"

"They ran off in a rage," Piccolo answered, glaring at her shorter lady in a menacing way, all but demanding she release him.

" ** _WHERE – ARE – THEY?!_** " Shampoo repeated, drawing back a fist that started glowing ominously with ki as her own glare deepened considerably.

Despite himself and knowing that he was technically stronger than her, Piccolo was surprised to find himself becoming increasingly intimidated by her. Thankfully, he was able to keep his wits about him. "Killing me won't get them back. Besides, I've got a request to make of you guys anyway." This unexpected statement caught everyone's attention. Looking over towards Bulma as he broke Shampoo's distracted grasp of his cloak, he said, "Let me take him and the other two boys off for some special training."

"What?!" everyone asked, gawking at Piccolo in surprise. "Why?!"

"Raditz is still alive," Piccolo said bluntly. "Injured, but still alive. Goku, Ranma, and I were only barely able to keep up with him during the fight. But when the boys managed to get free and were incised enough, their powers shot up astronomically. They are perhaps the most powerful beings on this planet right now and our best chance of hunting and putting down that thug for good. But they will need _intense_ training to be able to unlock and control those powers. I think I can teach it to them."

" _ **I**_ can train them!" Shampoo immediately cut in, glaring at him with an even more intense look of fury. "They are _my_ sons and _my_ family!"

"Exactly," Piccolo shot back, matching her glare challengingly. "They are your kin, your sons. Do you really think you can push them far enough, _hard enough,_ to get them to draw out their hidden potential? No, you're their _mother_. You'll hold yourself back, _go easy_ on them! That is _not_ how you train a fighter! Whether you like it or not, I'm not _asking_ to train them! I'm _telling_ you I'm going to!" Before anyone could refute him, Piccolo used telekinesis to yank Gohan out of Bulma's arms and into his hand. "Don't worry, I'll bring the brats back home just as soon as I manage to kill that Saiyan. It should only take a year's time."

With his piece said, he shot off into the distance where he'd last seen the other two boys disappear into.

"…So, who's gonna tell…Chichi?" Krillin asked uncertainly.

"I will," Shampoo answered bluntly. Looking back at the group, she forced herself to concentrate on the present and coming threat that was Raditz. Hardening her gaze, she said, "As long as Raditz is around, the Earth isn't safe. But we're too weak be able to face him. We need to start training again. Anyone know any good spots where we could do that?"

* * *

 **200 miles away**

His adrenaline had spiked when he'd dodged certain death by the skin of his teeth just now. And he'd been putting all of that wonderful, delicious adrenaline into the effort of getting as far away from the battlefield as possible. But all that adrenaline was only a temporary boost, and he was now quite literally running on its fumes as it faded fast. While he was a Saiyan, he still suffered the flaws of all organic lifeforms when it came to pain and injuries. And the cracked and broken ribs he could feel were throbbing and aching something wicked as he started dropping from his adrenaline high.

Heaving heavily for breath, Raditz finally drew to a halt in a small wooded area. There was a small stream nearby to which he gratefully knelt down to drink from. However, it was a seriously painful chore to do so. His busted ribs caused to him to be extremely ginger and make slow, gentle movements.

As he was working on his third handful of the delicious water, an all-too-familiar voice spoke up from his scouter, surprising him due him having forgotten to mute its outgoing calls. " _Why does it sound like you've failed, Raditz?_ "

"P-P-Prince Vegeta!" Raditz sputtered out, gasping and gagging slightly as some of the water went down the wrong pipe. With careful and pained heaving, Raditz was able to recover enough to gasp out, "There were—argh, more fighters! …They were—ugh, stronger than I'd thought!"

" _Yes, yes, we heard **that** as well_," the Prince said in a dismissive tone, far from swayed by Raditz's quite legitimate excuse. " _We also heard another **interesting** little tidbit. There's **another** Saiyan there as well?_"

"I-I-I don't know," Raditz stuttered out. "It could've been Kakarot's adopted brother, but he's dead now." Then he paused as he remembered that strange, purple-haired woman who'd momentarily sparked his Saiyan instincts. As thoughts of that lady drifted through his mind, he muttered out quietly, " _But it could've been her_."

" _Her?_ " Prince Vegeta repeated, surprising Raditz as he hadn't thought the Prince would've heard him. " _A femaaaale Saiyan? What evidence do you have to support that, Raditz?_ "

"Nothing _substantial_ , my prince," Raditz admitted carefully. "But she was _very_ protective of two of the whelps, the ones that Kakarot's adopted brother claimed were his."

" _So, we have the addition of one, maybe two – no,_ _ **one**_ _because that one's dead – new Saiyans and three whelps_ ," the Prince summarized in a surprising upbeat voice that Raditz rarely heard from the Saiyan anymore. " _That's very interesting, Raditz. However, that does not excuse your_ _ **failure**_." And just like that, his upbeat tone shifted into a familiar and deadly growl that Raditz was extremely familiar with. " _According to the scouter, except for the whelps, not a one of them breached over a 1,000 until the end of the fight in their normal fighting power. You should've been able to handle_ _ **all**_ _of them_."

Raditz started shivering badly as he could already guess where this was going. Having been raised and working in the Freeza Force for nearly all of their lives, Raditz had seen the slow but inevitable change that had occurred to Vegeta over the years. Changes to his character in which a certain amount of Lord Freeza's tendencies had rubbed off on the Prince, including a lack of forgiveness for failure. "Prince Vegeta—!"

 **"** _ **Quiet,** fool!_" Vegeta snapped, instantly silencing Raditz. " _We'll be coming there to examine the whelps and the possibility of this female Saiyan_."

" _You know, Vegeta_ ," Nappa suddenly piped up, sounding contemplative. " _Even if she's not a Saiyan, she's proven she can produce strong whelps from even a low-class warrior. Who knows what she could produce if a Saiyan_ _ **Elite**_ _took her for a spin!_ " Despite himself, thoughts of whelps who were even stronger than what he'd faced caused a shiver to run down Raditz's spine. He'd had trouble enough from just those three!

" _ **Your**_ _fate will be decided when we get there, Raditz_ ," the Prince stated, not letting himself get distracted by Nappa's side comment. " _Who knows? Maybe if you present us with all the whelps and the woman, I might forgive you._ _ **Might**_ _. Don't disappoint me, Raditz. More than you_ _ **already**_ _have, anyway_."

A cold sweat broke out across Raditz as he listened to the Prince and Nappa break out into rather sinister chuckles and laughter for a few moments before the communication was cut off. He knew it. He knew it! The Prince had already made up his mind about what to do with Raditz. It had been a longtime coming, but Raditz could already see that his days among the living were numbered. He also knew just why Vegeta had likely dangled that bit of bait at the end. Even if he did round up the whelps and woman for the Prince, he'd still be killed on the spot. Vegeta just wanted him to do the dirty work for him and save him the trouble of having to hunt down those four himself. It was a pretty lie meant to distract Raditz by dangling a shred of hope at the end of the tunnel. A ploy he'd seen and heard of Freeza using numerous times before.

Head dropping in resignation, Raditz felt an overwhelming sense of dread settle upon him as he realized what his fate would be in less than a year's time. "I'm dead."

"You look pretty lively to me," a voice spoke up behind him, startling him.

Raditz instantly spun and tried to fall into a fighting stance by sheer reflex. However, this sudden movement jostled his broken ribs, causing his stance to instantly fall apart and send him gasping for air. Though, for the sake of his pride, Raditz was able to keep a cry of pain from escaping. After several moments of gasping in pain while tentatively holding his chest, Raditz was finally able to take him in immediate surroundings and identify the newcomer. As he did so, his scouter chimed to life. Now that it was no longer busy communicating with Vegeta off in the depths of the galaxy, it was able to notice and ping the stranger's power at 450. ' _ **Another**_ _high power level? Just_ _ **how many**_ _of these absurdly high powers are on this planet? This is_ _ **supposed**_ _to be a_ _ **weak**_ _world!_ '

The stranger himself was a young man, easily in his early twenties. He wore a travel-worn, threadbare yellow gi top and loose olive-green pants that were bond in tight straps around his shins. His hair was as dark as any Saiyan and securely held out of his eyes by a yellow and black spotted bandana. And his body was covered with well-formed muscles that were clearly trained and honed to perfection for fighting. Whoever this stranger was, he was kneeling down to get a fire started in the center of a campsite that seemed to have sprung up around Raditz as he was distracted by his conversation with the Prince. Raditz watched wearily as the stranger put a pot of water upon a rock next to the fire. It didn't seem threatening but…

"Who are you?!" Raditz snapped after he'd finally managed to get his bearings and take in everything that had sprung up around him.

"Name's Ryoga," the stranger greeted, digging into his bag and pulled out long strips of primitive bandage wraps and herbal creams, beckoning Raditz over. "You?"

"…Raditz," he admitted after seeing no threatening moves from Ryoga, even though he still kept his guard up. He'd been attacked by natives on stranger worlds all his life after all.

"Nice to meet you, Raditz," Ryoga said, not seeming to mind Raditz's continued guarded posture. "Mind taking that weird armor off so I can treat those obviously broken ribs?"

That question momentarily caught Raditz by surprise. It wasn't often that natives offered their destroyers a helping hand, especially when they were already wounded. But then Raditz remembered that, unlike most other worlds, he hadn't done anything to warrant aggression. Aside from killing that Ranma guy, causing Kakarot's death, and kidnapping three brats, he had done nothing to anyone on _this_ world. So, he essentially still had a clean slate as far as they would've been concerned. And though there was his Saiyan pride screaming at him to decline the offer, the chance to recover quicker was substantially greater if he had assistance. Judging by how quickly and silently this campsite had been set up, this man was clearly very accustomed to living out in the wilds by himself. Meaning, he'd likely have a pretty good understanding of taking care of himself. Plus, there was the ominous and inevitable arrival of Vegeta to consider.

So, reluctantly, Raditz began to very carefully pull his damaged armor off. It was slow going because the process required a lot of flexing of his torso and chest, which of course aggravated his wounds all the more. And despite that it would've made it quicker, Raditz's pride was grateful that that Ryoga creature didn't try to offer aid in getting him out of the armor. He seemed to understand that Raditz didn't want his help for anything more than was absolutely necessary. Perhaps the man had a bit of pride himself?

After about ten minutes, Raditz finally dropped his armor to the side and settled down on the ground. Ryoga moved forward and began examining his ribs, feeling out which ones needed setting and which were likely just fractured. Raditz gamely refused to utter a single syllable of pain during the process. Once his inspection was finished, Ryoga began the process of applying the herbal creams and tightly wrapping the bandages. As he was doing this, Raditz's curiosity finally got the better of him. "Why are you helping me?"

"Eh, I've been lost, hungry, and injured before on the road, all the time," Ryoga answered absentmindedly, not halting his work as he pulled the current bandage tight. "Been having to live off the kindness of strangers my whole life. I figured I might as well pay it forward for a change. Besides, you look like my rival's brother."

That last comment brought Raditz up short, causing him to glance at Ryoga curiously. After several moments of thinking, Raditz had the sudden revelation that Ryoga was likely talking about Kakarot and Ranma, and his guard immediately shot back up from where it'd been falling. Ryoga paused for a moment when he noticed Raditz tensing up again, but he said nothing and quickly returned to his work. ' _He must've gotten into a fight and lost against Ranma or Goku, and is still smarting about it. Heh, I've been there before…too many times_.'

Finishing up the last bandage, Ryoga turned and stuffed the remainder of the wraps and his cream back into his med kit. As he was doing this, he finally spoke up, "There's no shame in getting beaten up by the Son brothers. Happens to me all the time. Although, you probably should've stuck around. Nodoka or Chichi probably would've patched you up and fed you, they always do that for me at least." But then he paused as another thought entered his mind. "But I suppose it could've been a good thing that you fled. Elder Cologne probably would've lectured you on your poor fighting techniques."

" _WHO'S TECHNIQUE IS POOR?!_ " Raditz yelled out reflexively, feeling somehow insulted but not understanding why.

"Hey, I'm not saying it _is!_ " Ryoga said, turning and holding his hands up in a surrendering gesture to try and calm the Saiyan down. "But to a 300-year-old granny, _EVERYONE'S_ technique is poor."

There were a _lot_ of context clues in that simple statement that required Raditz to stop and think about what was implied. But as he was doing this, Raditz found himself struck by just how strange this world of his brother's really was. Strange but becoming increasingly interesting. No wonder Kakarot seemed to have such a strong connection to this planet.

As Raditz calmed down, Ryoga busied himself with digging out a large amount of food from somewhere and setting about getting a meal cooking over the fire. Raditz watched him for several moments, his bandaged ribs preventing him from trying to move forward and just start eating the food as it was. What was surprising to Raditz was the guy was laying out almost enough food to feed two Saiyans, but he didn't pay it that much mind. Thoughts of two Saiyans had distracted him into thinking about Vegeta and Nappa, and Vegeta's conditions of finding the whelps and woman. Although he knew it was likely a trap, Raditz still had a few strands of loyalty for the old Saiyan royal bloodline that were starting to rear their ugly heads and color his thoughts.

Glancing over at Ryoga as he was handed the first plateful, Raditz thought, ' _This fool obviously knows Kakarot and Ranma. Probably knows where they used to live too. He must've been a semi-regular sparring partner or opponent of theirs, which could explain why and how he's so strong when compared to the rest of the weaklings of this world. Maybe he could take me to where my brother lived? My brother's friends would likely have found the Namekian and the whelps, and they'd probably take them home afterwards. And considering the purple-haired woman is supposedly Ranma's mate, she's likely be there as well. But if she is his mate, I should assume that she probably has that same 'ki-sensing' ability that he did. She'd detect my approach just as readily as if she had a scouter on. I need to think strategically if I want this to work. Speaking of scouters_ …'

He idly glanced up at the energy bar to check the battery power remaining for the device and internally winced at what he saw. ' _ **Dammit**_ _, Vegeta! That transmission sapped most of its power! And without my pod to supplement it, the battery's gonna run dry within a few_ _ **days**_ _at this rate!_ ' With an aggravated frown, he reached up switched his scouter off to conserve what was left of its battery.

Pausing in his ravenous feeding, Raditz looked over at Ryoga and bluntly asked, "Would it…Would it be okay if I stuck around with you? I have nowhere else to go for the time being and I very much want to fight against those guys again once I'm healed up enough." A white lie, but not inaccurate.

"Sure, I don't mind," the fool answered easily. "It'd be nice to have some company for a change."

It was convenient for Raditz that he was able to hide his triumphant smirk behind his plate as he returned to his meal with all the gusto of a starving Saiyan. ' _Yes, this plan will work just fine. This fool can lead me to where they lived, I can grab the brats again, and take the woman when or if she shows up. All I have to do is keep a low profile so I can heal up and then have this guy take me there. **Brilliant!**_ '

Raditz couldn't help mentally patting himself on the back for his wise and cunning plan.

* * *

 **Somewhere in the Southern Archipelago**

It was late that same night. Things were drastically different than what the three young toddlers had expected. The big green man who they knew was Mr. Piccolo and was on bad terms with their fathers had taken them somewhere very far away from anywhere they knew. Then he told them some very bad news. The big bully who'd first kidnapped them and then killed their daddies had managed to survive, even if he was injured. Now, he was out there somewhere, trying to recover and no doubt plotting something bad.

Gohan had been terrified of the idea of Raditz maybe coming back for them. Hayato had been of two minds about Raditz's escape. He wanted to find the guy who'd started all of this and make him pay, but he was also smart enough to realize that he had been caught by surprise in their last encounter and wouldn't let them get the jump on him again. This made Hayato feel very cautious about having to face him again. On the other hand, Kouma had practically run up to Piccolo and started yelling at him for getting in his way and stopping him when he'd been trying to chase after Raditz. Then, after explanations had been made, Kouma had quite literally _demanded_ that Piccolo find Raditz and take him to the big bully _RIGHT NOW!_ Piccolo had been quite amused by Kouma's aggression as he remarked that he'd definitely get his chance in due time.

After all, Mr. Piccolo had said he needed the boys' help to face Raditz when they inevitably met up again. Gohan and Hayato had both been quite confused as to what he meant by that. Wasn't Mr. Piccolo supposed to be _far stronger_ than any of them? And wasn't Raditz supposed to be even stronger than _Mr. Piccolo_? How were they supposed to be of any help? They were just kids after all! Piccolo answered this question by promptly throwing Gohan towards a small mountain, causing the young boy to instinctively blast it to ash and dust, shocking and awing all three boys as they realized what had happened. And now, here they were. All alone on a deserted island with only each other and massive beasts for company. Their purpose? To survive, learning to take care of themselves and each other.

The three boys were currently huddled up in a large cave Hayato had found up in one of the rocky formations. It was hard to reach for them due to its elevation and sheer cliffs, but they'd managed to reach it just fine. A small campfire was burning inside the cave which Kouma had been able to get started by a semi-intentional flare of his ki and all three boys were clustered around it in a desperate need for the warmth and comfort that it provided. Each of them were quietly nibbling on the cluster of bananas that Hayato had found from a nearby tree. The bananas didn't satiate their hunger entirely, but at least gave them a pleasant feeling of fullness.

Sniffling quietly from where he was huddled, grasping his knees as he stared at the fire, Gohan tried to keep the tears from leaking out again as he sobbed out, "I want my daddy."

To his left, Kouma snorted in agreement. He was also red-eyed from crying, but his disposition was leaning more towards anger than fear. He didn't want to cry out to the heavens like his brothers, begging for help that he knew wouldn't come. Instead, he just gritted his teeth and tried to hold them in. Nonetheless, when Gohan had said that, Kouma felt compelled to chime in with, "I want warm clothes."

"I want my bed," Hayato said yearningly. Though he wasn't as distraught as Gohan, his eyes were just as red from the angry and fearful crying he'd also been doing earlier.

"And a real dinner!" Gohan added, feeling his stomach already begging for more substantial food. Both his cousins nodded, practically drooling as visions of wonderful, delicious foods drifted through their minds.

"I want Momma's okonomiyaki!" Kouma said. He loved her okonomiyaki! It always came in so many weird and delicious flavors with seemingly endless options to choose from!

"I want Mommy's sweet and sour chicken, steamed dumplings, and fried rice," Hayato added, drooling at the thought of his most favorite dish that his mommy made.

" _Anything_ from my Mom!" Gohan finished, which even Kouma and Hayato could agree with. Auntie Chichi had easily the best cooking between the three after all. And they'd _know!_

"But we can't have those right now," Kouma pointed out, tossing the banana peel he'd just finished out the cave entrance to join the rest of the discarded peels. "We just gotta stay warm and find food tomorrow."

"Then what?" Gohan asked, looking at his cousin. While Gohan was the oldest, he was also the most naïve since his mother rarely let him accompany his daddy out on hikes or go on camping trips, unlike Kouma and Hayato.

"We get stronger," Hayato said simply.

"Stronger?" Gohan repeated, uncertain what Hayato meant.

"Mmmm!" Hayato hummed as he nodded. "Stronger than _both_ our dads!"

"Stronger than that _big bully!_ " Kouma declared, his voice reflecting his surge of anger. His impassioned statement earned a decisive nod from his brother and a contemplative look from Gohan.

Gohan just looked between the two and slowly nodded in understanding. "Right."

After all, he knew what was at stake here. Mr. Piccolo had been quite clear in his explanations. The three of them were the Earth's best hope at stopping Raditz from running amok, killing people, and destroying the world. It was a _HUGE_ responsibility to place on the shoulders of a couple of children. But what other choice was there? Mr. Piccolo had admitted that while he could train them, they outclassed him in potential raw power, which was something that would be needed to topple the mighty alien warrior when he returned. So, they needed to learn to fight and how to focus and control their ki, and quickly!

* * *

Floating outside the cave, Piccolo watched as the three gathered around the fire started drifting off to sleep as exhaustion caught up with them. If he was honest with himself, he was rather impressed by how well they'd handled their first day alone. Granted, he was more impressed by Ranma's kids than Goku's. The blue-haired brat who clearly loved to fight had shown some truly astounding raw talent with ki when he was able to use it to start the fire and he seemed to have not only a warrior's instinct, but that of a survivor's too. The brown-haired boy, by contrast, was smart and not afraid to take the lead. He clearly had grasped what must've been beginner's lessons of camping from his family, finding shelter and food rather quickly. But while he was very powerful, easily the most powerful of the three, Goku's kid was practically the definition of naïve ignorance when it came to survival. Piccolo would have been surprised if the runt of the litter could've survived at all if he'd been alone.

As the three boys finally fell asleep, Piccolo came in and landed lightly in the cave, looking them over carefully. With a slight sneer of disgust, he muttered to himself, "Hard to believe they're as powerful as they are. But at least they're already showing signs of growth. But Goku's brat is the weak link here. If not for the other two, he might actually have starved to death. Thankfully, there doesn't look like there's anything around here to trouble them for now. Still, perhaps I should give them a small handout to make the coming days easier for them."

Holding out his hand towards the boys, he focused and flared his ki in a most distinctive way. With a grunt of exertion, he enacted his will upon the world as each of the boys became engulfed in his power. After the resulting poofs of smoke had cleared, each of the boys were now dressed in identical gis as those of their fathers, though they bore the 'Ma' symbol on the backs. Lying next to each of the boys were different weapons. Goku's brat had a sword, the blue-haired brat had a short-hafted battleax, and the budding leader of the trio had a simple spear.

Smirking as he turned away from them, Piccolo quietly said, "There, now you can't say I never did anything for you brats. But this'll be the _last_ _time_ I help you." Rising back up into the air, he flew off to the other side of the island. "Now, time for some _serious_ training."

* * *

 **October 15, Age 761  
Kami's Lookout**

The serene beauty of the palace of god was utterly lost on the morose Shampoo as she stood off to the side of the temple entrance. With her back to the group, she was staring off into the distant blue haze of the endless sky surrounding the floating palace with a blank gaze. Her stiff and unmoving posture were earning her several concerned glances from the gathered fighters who were standing in front of the entrance. Krillin stood alongside Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Yajirobe, shooting concerned but understanding looks at the young woman.

The group of them had been collected just a few minutes earlier by Mr. Popo, on the request of Kami. Apparently, the Guardian of the Earth had foreseen something and sent the genie. So, now the group were waiting impatiently for Mr. Popo to return from collecting one last fighter and for Kami to explain to them what was needed of them.

Sighing as he decided to just bite the bullet, Krillin walked over to Shampoo. "Hey, Shampoo, you okay there?"

For a moment, Shampoo made no move, not seeming to have heard him. Just as he was about to try again, she finally turned around, exposing her reddened eyes and tear-stained cheeks. Slight shuffling behind him told him that the others were also likely listening or watching out of concern as well. Krillin said nothing as he watched her distractedly raise a hand to clean her face. After a moment, she said, "I'm…not okay."

"Don't worry, Shampoo," Krillin said, trying to insert as much hope and reassurance into his voice as he could. "We'll bring them with the Dragonballs. Believe it or not, I was dead once and it wasn't really all that bad." Seeing that his attempt wasn't really making an impact on her, he decided to change tactics. "Did you know that King Yemma likes to brag about his desk? He said it - "

"It's not just that," Shampoo interrupted as she looked away, her eyes taking on a slightly wet sheen. "My wife is still in tears, my kids are missing, my husband's killer is still out there doing who knows what. And I'm _here_ , not comforting her, looking for our kids, or finding him! And while okaasan and Chichi are there, it'll still be four or five days until my great-grandmother comes back. I don't know if Ukyo will drink herself to death by then or not."

This admission of her woes left Krillin and the other eavesdropping fighters momentarily at a loss. None of them were married or had kids after all. So, no matter whatever platitudes they might've tried to offer, they could tell they'd ring hollow for the distraught young lady. While they could understand the sense of loss over a friend and even lover, the worry of a parent for their lost children was something foreign to them.

"Worries will cloud your mind, child," an aged voice finally spoke up from the palace, earning everyone's attention. Kami finally exited the building, looking over at Shampoo with a calming gaze that somehow managed to reach her, relaxing her slightly as he continued speaking. "Focus on what you can do now and train yourself that much harder. Now, I believe that this is everybody. Correct, Mr. Popo?"

"Yes, Kami-sama," Mr. Popo answered as he followed in Kami's shadow, stepping to the side of the guardian with his usual placid smile. "These are all of the fighters who accepted your invitation."

"Hm…I see that some faces are still absent," Kami said, more to himself than the others. "That's unfortunate. The more fighters we have at our disposal, the better the chances we'll have of survival."

"My great-grandmother will probably show up before the week is out," Shampoo said. "She'll probably hear about what's going on from…from Ukyo and Nodoka and most likely rush over here with any other additional fighters she can pick up. But I don't know who she'd pick or why."

"I see," Kami said, nodding in acknowledgement of the new information. "Well, I can only pray that she hurries to arrive. Time is of the essence and we have precious little available."

"So, Kami, what's the problem?" Yamcha asked, voicing the question that was on almost all of their minds. "I would say that this would be about Goku's brother Raditz still being alive and trapped on the Earth. But I'm suddenly getting bad vibes about this."

"Sadly, you are correct, Yamcha," Kami nodded. "For you see, I've been closely monitoring Raditz's activities and movements on Earth since he fled the battlefield. While he is indeed injured and still determined to collect the sons of Ranma and Goku, there's an even bigger threat than him that is rapidly approaching our planet. His two companions out in space are now coming here. And Raditz, as mighty as he is, _pales_ in comparison to either of them, in strength, power, or ferocity."

That revelation sent jolts of terror down all of their spines. All of them had been brought up to speed on Goku and Ranma's deaths. They knew that the brothers were mightiest among them, and Raditz had dominated the fight against both of them _AND_ Piccolo until the end. To learn that he was the _small fry_ of the group was humbling, humiliating, and terrifying all at once.

"What?! WHY?!" Krillin cried out, terror etched onto his face.

"It would seem that the two Saiyans have become interested in not only the sons of Goku and Ranma, but also Ms. Shampoo here herself," Kami answered, seeing no point in keeping this information from them. At their confused expressions, he elaborated, "Given that all three boys have Saiyans tails and Goku only claimed one as his own, Raditz was unsure whether the other two inherited their Saiyan traits from their father or their mother, namely Shampoo. Considering that there are no known surviving female Saiyans, the possibility of Shampoo being one is too great a chance for them to pass up."

Understandably, Shampoo wore an expression of absolute disgust and fury as she heard this. The others wisely decided to not comment on this, whether out of sympathy or apathy.

"And that is why I called you all here today," Kami continued, ignoring the awkward atmosphere easily. "For you see, regardless of whatever they decide to do with the children and Shampoo, they will still most assuredly destroy the world. Raditz was being truthful when he said that they'd come here to finish the job, if only out of an obligation of pride. At their current rate of travel, I predict that the Saiyans will arrive here in about one year's time. So, you six must train harder than you ever have before in your lives if you wish to protect the planet and its people."

That statement hung heavy in the air for a long moment as the group considered the numerous revelations they'd been privy to. After finally regaining his composure, Yamcha let loose a small sigh. "Huh, I guess it's a good thing I didn't bring along my…tagalong all the way here after all. Mr. Popo said she needed some…um, revisional training with Korin." He said that while shooting an awkward glance downwards towards where Korin's Tower stood.

"Oh really?" Tien said, sounding somewhat interested at the thought of this mystery fighter. "Who'd you bring?"

"You didn't bring _Kasumi_ along, did you?!" Krillin yelped out reflexively as the thought occurred to him. Despite herself, Shampoo found herself picturing Kasumi trying to kill the Saiyans with kindness. It was such an utterly ridiculous notion that fitful giggles bubbled up from her before she could control herself. ' _Yeah, like THAT'D ever happen!_ ' She turned away to head over for an empty portion of the Lookout to begin her initial stretches and training. But as she was doing so, the conversation carried on behind her.

"Nah," Yamcha denied, shaking his head with a wistful smile at the thought of his beloved fiancée. "As much as I love her, she isn't cut out for this kind of situation or life. Nah, I brought along her sister, Akane."

Shampoo stumbled and comically tripped over her own feet at that name.

* * *

 **Korin's Tower  
Same time…**

"Nidan Mawashi Geri!" with a loud cry of exertion, Akane swung her leg high. The force of the kick was enough to send her into a forward slide across the tile floor. Many of the perverted boys in the Hentai Horde had fallen prey to this specialized kick trick of hers, a move that she'd created all on her own during the early days of the Horde. And yet, frustratingly, she hit only air again as her small, white opponent nimbly ghosted under and behind her so quickly that it was as though he'd been before she'd started the move.

 _"Oooh,_ interesting little trick!" Korin said, sounding more amused than impressed.

' _He's **still** not taking me seriously!_' Akane ranted in her head as she spun around. Rolling her fist as she charged forward, Akane lashed out with her most powerful punch. "Shippu Bakuretsuken!"

"Hm, good power behind that one," Korin remarked as he casually bounced up onto his staff and let the punch pass by him.

"Tsukami Appa!" A good amount of wind was kicked up as Akane instantly shot herself up into a jumping upper cut towards the cat's small chin. Korin dodged yet again by jumping, staff and all, upwards with the punch and let the wind carry him higher still, well out of the angry girl's reach. Using his staff's greater length, he pushed himself off of the ceiling as he drew towards it, shooting off to the opposite side of the chamber they were sparring in. Upon landing, he once again assumed his normal relaxed stance while waiting for the girl to come down from her jump. That casual stance enraged Akane even more than she already was. It reminded her of all the times she'd seen Ranma take a similar one during the few times they'd ever sparred together.

As her fury spiked, so too did her ki as a potent fiery-red battle aura of pure rage seemed to ignite around her. Korin just stared at his latest pupil with a bland and unimpressed gaze. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

" _Raimei Kyakugeri!_ " Akane cried as she leapt forward into a spinning kick. Korin sighed in annoyance as he reached out and used his staff to throw off her balance and angle her over him. She went careening over and crashed to the floor behind him without him having moved a fraction from his spot. Finally reaching her boiling point, Akane pushed herself to her feet as she yelled out, " _TAKE ME **SERIOUSLY** ALREADY!_"

Korin remained silent, his back still turned to her. This inaction only provoked her rage all the more, causing her to charge forward again. This time there was no tactic or plan behind her movements, besides beating on the white cat until he was a bloody pulp on the floor like _everyone else_ who'd never taken her seriously! Just as she was nearly atop him with her fist arcing down to hit him in the back of his head, the cat disappeared in a burst of speed she couldn't hope to track. At near the same instant, Korin reappeared in the air behind her, swinging his staff and hitting her in the back of the head. The blow wasn't all that painful, but did cause her to stumble forward a few steps as she was momentarily disoriented.

"Child, I _AM_ taking you seriously," Korin said simply, waiting patiently for her to recover from that blow.

Turning to glare at Korin while rubbing the back of her head with one hand, Akane angrily snapped out, "Then stop _defending and ATTACK ME!_ "

"There's more to fighting than just attacking," Korin stated. "And if I were to attack you the way you _want me to_ , you might die."

" _Are you calling me WEAK?!_ " Akane demanded, her fury once again rocketing at the insinuation.

"Yes, you're weak," Korin acknowledged.

That statement was so blunt and simply delivered that it actually knocked Akane out of her rage and for a loop. The reason for her disbelief was pretty understandable when one considered the fact that _**NO ONE**_ had ever told her that. At least, not without some kind of malicious intent that she could see coming and thus simply ignore. Back in Nerima, everyone had always given her platitudes rather than answer. Ranma, Ryoga, Genma, her father, Nabiki, Kuno, even Mousse had all, in some form or other, never outright told her that she was weak before. Cologne, Shampoo, Kodachi, even Ukyo might've told her that, but they were her rivals after all. It was a given that they were biased against her strength and skill. But never had anyone come right out and said that she was weak to her face and not meant as a means of attack to her self-esteem like Korin had just done.

Seeing that he'd finally managed to break through to her, Korin continued, "You are training to be one of the people who are to defend this planet. If you think you can measure up to the other more experienced and powerful warriors up on the Lookout right now, at your current level, you are delusional as well as arrogant."

It wasn't even a conscious decision on Akane's part. It was just simple instinct that had her launching herself back at Korin with a fist cocked back while screaming in reignited fury. Despite once again beginning his dodging, Korin continued speaking, "One of the key aspects of being a martial artist is knowing your own strength and knowing it in comparison to others. You might have a decent amount of raw talent, but right now that is all it is: _raw_. As of this moment, you _are_ weak. Weaker than me, weaker than everyone up on the Lookout. And they, in turn, are weaker than the Saiyans. But that is why _all_ of you are _here_ – " Suddenly, Korin planted his feet and stopped dodging. He merely held up his paw and caught her fist in his smaller palm. Even with her fury-enhanced strength, Akane was extremely surprised to find that she couldn't pull her fist free of his grasp. "You are all here to better yourselves so that the planet will not be destroyed. If you cannot admit that _you are weak_ at this moment, then you have no hope of growing stronger."

Korin fell silent for a moment, watching as Akane continued her struggles of trying to wrench herself free. Curiously, he could see that she had started mumbling to herself. But the more she struggled to free herself and the longer he kept his grip on her, the louder her mumblings became. "—weak! I'm not _weak! I'm not!_ "

Frowning at her, Korin finally released her fist. Akane quickly backed up a few steps, messaging her fist while glaring down at him with a fearful and furious stare. But Korin paid that look no mind as he said, "…It seems that words will not get through to you. In that case, I _will_ take you a bit more seriously."

For some reason that she refused to contemplate, Akane suddenly started feeling an existential dread as Korin started channeling and raising his ki. "If words won't reach you, then perhaps I shall _beat_ your weakness into you so that you shall see _how much_ you need to improve." Then the cat launched himself forward and attacked for the first time since she arrived.

* * *

 **October 17, Age 761  
New Tendo Dojo, West City**

The house was very quiet these days. This thought hung heavily upon the elderly man as he drank his tea with as much calm dignity as he could muster. Tendo Soun was seated on the edge of his dojo as he stared out at the backyard of his new home. Nestled up within arm's length of him was a small tray that held a steaming pot of tea and a few crackers to munch on. As similar as this dojo and its environs was, modeled almost exactly after his old home in Nerima, it still didn't quite feel like home yet. Not when he was the last one of his family still living in it anymore. Morosely, his thoughts wandered once again to the past as he tried to piece together how and why things had gotten this way.

Things had changed drastically for him in the past five to seven years since he'd been reunited with his oldest friend. First, he and Genma had finally started realizing their dream of merging their schools and bloodlines together when Ranma and Akane had been engaged to one another. And while neither of them had ever said or done anything overt, there had been a growing number of clues and hints that the two of them had started bonding and becoming affectionate towards one another. Even with all of the chaos that had followed Genma and Ranma to Nerima, those had easily been the happiest of days in his life since his dear beloved wife had passed away. Ranma and Genma had brought new life to the dying dojo and revitalized his family, giving each of the girls something to look forward to each day.

Looking back on it now, Soun could now say with absolute certainty that that idyllic time had been shattered with the return of the evil master. Yes, at first, things had been comparatively tame. Ranma and Happosai would clash time and again, Ranma would learn a new trick from old monster, whether intentionally or not on either side's part, Happosai would punish or embarrass Ranma to keep him from getting too arrogant, and life would move on as it always did. But that all changed when both of them went too far, Ranma interfering with the monster's activities and Happosai using that accursed moxibustion on him. From that moment onwards, everything went downhill.

Now, all of his girls had graduated from high school and were pursuing higher education in some form. Akane had left his dojo to 'push for a higher level' so she could help protect people and the world, like any true martial artist should. Nabiki had taken a short 2-year term in a nearby college before she'd dropped out after getting hired into the illustrious Capsule Corp. of this world. And sweet Kasumi was well on her way to not only becoming a doctor but was also in the midst of planning her wedding to that Yamcha fellow. Nodoka had been absent from the dojo for nearly a year, having left only a short note saying that Ranma had visited and she was going to go with him for personal reasons. And Genma had become an infrequent visitor due him constantly being out in the world, searching for his son's whereabouts with no success.

And Soun himself had busied himself in the only way he could, by once again taking up the mantle of a martial arts master and training disciples in his school, as well as performing numerous charity and community events in the city. His activities had started garnering him a lot of respect and a reputation as a very honorable man. Now, he was considered by many to be the best known and strongest martial arts master of the modern era, a rising star in the martial arts community that shined _very_ brightly indeed. But despite his growing renown, Soun did this to not only keep himself busy, but to also provide a haven for his family and friends should they ever need it. Sadly, those very training sessions with his new disciples had become the highlights of his day in recent months. He'd forgotten just how wonderful it was to teach a disciple, help them learn a difficult move, and the pride of watching them master it. He just wished that Akane and Ranma would've been there working alongside him at this new job.

Sighing lowly as his thoughts turned again to those two, he took a small sip of his tea. That was when a blinding flash of light flared to life just in front of him. Soun reflexively launched himself backwards, spraying his mouthful of tea as he dropped the cup in his hand, sliding into a defensive stance. By the time the light had died down, which only lasted about a second's worth of time, Soun was already two meters away and standing in a strong stance, ready for whatever was coming. But when the light died down, he found himself staring at the ruffled and dirtied form of his old friend.

"Genma?" Soun asked hesitantly as he watched his friend look around himself, taking in his surroundings with an obvious sigh of relief.

At Soun's voice, Genma looked up at him and relieved smile crossed his face as tears of happiness started streaming down from his eyes. " _Soun!_ Oh, thank the kami! That sneaky snake had been speaking the truth! She really _did_ send me home! Oh, _thank you_ , your majesty!"

"What's going on, my friend?" Soun asked as he stood up from his stance, moving forward to collect his dropped tea cup. As he did so, Genma noticed the small tray and immediately threw himself upon it, gobbling up the crackers instantly and pouring himself multiple cups of tea. ' _He must've been starving again. Was he lost in a desert or something?_ ' Despite his obvious starvation, Genma was still thoughtful enough to leave enough tea for Soun to pour himself a cupful.

Once he'd eaten and drank as much as he could, Genma let loose a small sigh as he leaned back on the dojo's door frame. "I just had the craziest journey of my life, my friend. I was down on that large peninsula to the southwest when I heard about this magical fortune teller and decided to see if I could get her help in finding Ranma and whatever aid she could provide. But she refused and sent a bunch of monsters to attack me!"

"Monsters?" Soun asked, quite concerned and interested in this tale. "What kind of monsters?"

"Oh, you won't believe this!" Genma boasted, grinning somewhat childishly towards him. "A vampire, a mummy, an invisible man, a devil man, and an old man in a mask!"

"Were they strong?" Soun asked.

"Ha! Not at all!" Genma boasted, grinning crookedly. "I'll admit that the old man _might've_ been something when he was younger, but none of them could even lay a hand on me!" But then his grin fell as he came the next part of the tale. "But after I'd beaten all of her minions into the ground, the old witch cast a spell on me! She sent me straight to _Hell!_ "

"…what?"

"It's true!" Genma yelled frantically, desperate for his oldest friend to believe him. "I was chased by ogres, monsters of all types and sizes, and saw such horrendous landscapes! Did you know that Hell has a fountain of blood? Or a mountain of spikes that are taller than a house? Or a massive cloud that surrounds the entirety of the place? Not to mention massive carnivorous plants that eat everything near them! It was…It was horrible!"

"Then…how did you…escape?" Soun asked hesitantly. He'd heard some wild tales before. And because Genma was his friend, he really wanted to believe him. But, if this was true, it definitely took the cake!

"While dodging a couple of oiled-up ogres who wanted to wrestle me for some reason, I found a secret passage that led to the desk of a _giant_ ogre. He must've been at least the size of a small mountain! Thankfully, I got him bragging so much about how awesome his desk was that I was able to slip away using my Umisenken, so he didn't notice me leaving. I then found this weird road that led off into the distance. I thought it might've been the way home, so I started running down it. While on it, I came across this _magnificent_ palace. The ladies inside were _very_ gracious and kind, feeding me mountains of food. Food so delicious and unique, I would've been badly tempted to just remain there for a few days. After explaining my situation to them about trying to find my son, they were so touched by my noble quest that they even agreed to give help me! They opened a passage home for me while promising to keep an eye out for Ranma."

"…Wow, that's some story," Soun said. If he were honest with himself, Soun was feeling rather…upset. While he did enjoy his new teaching job, he was still young enough to want to go on wild adventures like what Genma had just had!

"Indeed, it was _awful_ ," Genma said, shaking at the potent memories of the horrors he'd just endured. He did more than a few things he wasn't proud of on this most recent trip. Perhaps he should start _seriously_ considering settling down? He was getting too old for these kinds of escapades! Shaking his head, he refocused his attention on Soun as he asked, "So, what's been happening here? Where's Akane? I would've thought she'd be in the dojo and training at this time of day."

Soun paused for a moment before he took his last sip of tea and set the cup aside. "We had an unexpected visitor a few days ago. Yamcha had arrived with this black creature riding on a magic carpet. The creature said his name was Mr. Popo and he'd come on the request of the 'Guardian of the Earth' to recruit me. Apparently, there's going to be some big calamity that's going to arrive in about a year's time. Space aliens of immense strength are going to arrive and likely ravage the world. Mr. Popo wanted me to go and train with this guardian of his so that I might join the other defenders who were also being collected to protect the planet."

"I take it you didn't accept the offer," Genma stated, staring at his friend with a calculating gaze in his eye.

"I didn't," Soun said, nodding. "I'm not a frontline fighter anymore. I'm the sensei now, teaching the next generation of martial artists, getting them started on their own journeys. Mr. Popo seemed to understand when I explained it to him. But before he could leave, Akane stepped up and requested he take her in my stead."

Just the memory of Akane making that request was almost enough to have Soun break down in tears. His baby girl might've been a grown woman now, but he didn't want her happily throwing herself into dangerous situations like this! She wasn't ready to be on a _battlefield_ , to see the _horrors_ such a place would contain, or to face _death_ in the face like that! If he had had his way, he'd have immediately ordered her to remain home and stay safe with him. Unfortunately, Mr. Popo had accepted her offer and taken off with her before Soun could barely even utter a word in response.

"Wait, _Akane accepted?!_ " Genma asked, his eyes widening in surprise before narrowing in calculation.

"That's right," Soun said simply, watching as his friend put his brilliant mind to work.

"Akane _hates_ this world almost as much as _we_ do," Genma muttered to himself.

Hearing Genma mutter that to himself, Soun flinched slightly in response. Truth be told, Soun _didn't_ hate the world so much as he did the empty nest syndrome he was experiencing. His life was actually _better_ in this world than it was in Nerima. A full dojo, respected by the community (both the local & martial), he's making money instead of hemorrhaging it, and best of all there was no Happosai to torment him! The _only_ thing that could make his life better in all aspects was if he could maybe somehow find this universe's counterpart to his wife and started a relationship. Well, if she actually _existed_ that is...

The only reason he had to actively dislike this world was that Ranma ran off to it, and that had less to do with the world and more to do with Ranma himself. To add to that, Soun was involved with the local community council and teaching students. He interacts with the people far more regularly. So, thinking of them as 'not real' is far more difficult when he's being berated by a mother for her son's injury or discussing the upcoming local festivals with the other councilors.

Unaware of Soun's treacherous thoughts, Genma continued his musings, "Last I heard, she was as determined to find and _discipline_ her fiancée as we are. Why would she suddenly decide to throw her lot in with those who are going to be busy _protecting_ this fantasy world? Maybe she…she…oh." A look of dawning realization crossed his face before a smirk took its place. " _Oh!_ That girl! Brilliant! _Utterly brilliant!"_

"What is it?" Soun asked, quite curious.

"This is a fantasy world that Ranma has fallen in love with," Genma explained. "If this world is _truly_ being threatened by such dangerous enemies, you can bet that he'll be standing in the frontline when they get here! And now Akane's off getting trained with the other defenders! She'll be right there beside him, fighting to defend this place alongside him!"

Suddenly, Soun understood just what his friend was hinting towards. "Thus, she might be able to _finally_ get through to him and get him to come home! Or, failing that, at least find out where he lives now!"

"Exactly!" Genma cheered, jumping up and about in excitement. Soun quickly joined him, both men engaging in a familiar victory dance they used to do when they were still teenagers and disciples. After a moment of dancing and laughing like they were decades younger, both men settled back to the ground.

Genma gained a contemplative look on his face. "I wonder if that 'Mr. Popo' creature of yours is still looking for people? While I don't care about this world, I'm sure I could be of help when the fight starts. Not to mention, I could be there to help Akane. Do you know when and where these aliens are due to arrive?"

"Afraid not," Soun admitted. "We didn't discuss that. Only that they needed fighters for training."

"I see," Genma muttered, looking incredibly disappointed. "Unfortunate."

"Will you at least stay for a few days?" Soun asked, already knowing where Genma's thought processes were going. "It's been too quiet around the house lately. I could use the company, if only for a few days."

Looking up and seeing his friend's hopeful gaze, Genma sighed, "I guess I can wait a few days. Besides, it'll be nice to have a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in. That trip was absolutely hellish."

* * *

 **October 20, Age 761  
Kami's Lookout**

With a strong gust of wind, three feminine figures all glowing white from ki flew up over the lip of the Lookout. Clutched in the hands of one of the women was a long-haired young man who was being held aloft by his hair. Upon floating over the lip of floating palace, the screams of pain that the young man was making became audible to the group of six training fighters, attracting their attentions and halting them from their sparring matches. All of them, even if they didn't have hair, all winced in sympathetic pain at the young man's situation as he clutched at his long hair and tried to pry himself out the blue-haired woman's grasp. Finally, just as they were a few paces from the Z-Fighters, the woman released the man and he dropped the last few meters to the ground, massaging his aching scalp as he landed unsteadily on his feet.

" _DAMMIT, YOU WRETCHED OLD GHOUL!_ " the man yelled, glaring hatefully up at the woman as she and the other two touched down behind him and in front the group. " _ **THAT HURT!**_ "

"It's _your own fault_ for not learning how to manipulate your ki to fly," the woman said dispassionately. Normally, she'd whack him over the head for the disrespect. But, in this case, he was somewhat entitled to being upset with her, so she'd let him have this one.

"Where's my baby?!" Chichi yelled as she marched angrily up to the assembled fighters, glaring at all of them while also reaching out for the familiar ki presence of her son. "Where's Gohan?!"

"Oh, hey, Chichi," Krillin greeted awkwardly, looking utterly terrified as her laser-sharp glare focused upon him. "Uh—Uh—G-G-Gohan's still down on Earth."

" _And why haven't any you gone to collect him?!_ " Chichi demanded hotly, towering over Krillin with all the wrath of a furious maternal god.

"Well…Well, because…Kami said we needed to…focus on our training?" Krillin offered feebly, which only deepened Chichi's glare.

"Plus, even with how much we've improved, Piccolo's _still_ a lot stronger than all of us," Yamcha added, earning the mother's attention. "Even if we tried, we still wouldn't have beat him or have succeeded in getting any of the boys away from him."

"Is that so?" Chichi growled. Turning, she marched off towards the palace where she could sense a substantially stronger ki signature was located. "Well, I guess I'll have to have a _talk_ with him."

As this little drama was happening with Chichi, Shampoo had raced up to embrace her wife, giving her a surprisingly passionate kiss. By this time, Mousse had recovered somewhat and found himself gawking at the sight. Although he'd long suspected the pair had been getting on better terms with one another, he'd _never_ thought he'd see the sight he was now!

"I'm so sorry, granddaughter," Cologne said as the pair parted after a moment. The woman looked at her descendant with sympathetic gaze. "You might've lost a lot, but at least you still have your wife with you."

"Wait, _WHAT?!_ _ **WIFE?!**_ " Mousse shrieked in disbelief, his gaze bouncing between Shampoo, Ukyo, and Cologne. "…No _wonder_ you weren't interested in me, Shampoo!" Suddenly all of her constant rejections of his affections and proposals made sense! In fact, so did her devotion and attraction towards that transgender brute Saotome! It wasn't so much that she loved _Ranma,_ but that she'd desired his _female_ body! It had never been about the _male_ Ranma after all! This realization filled him with a sense of tremendous relief. At least this meant that Saotome probably didn't—

"No, I married Ranma too," Shampoo said, screeching his internal processing and contemplation to an instant halt.

After a moment to reboot and process this new data, Mousse's sense of relief was utterly annihilated as despair, horror, and fury rose up inside him. "No! B-B- _B-But! NOOO! HOW_ _ **DARE HE! HE**_ _ **CAN'T**_ _ **WIN!**_ _ **I LOVE YOU, SHAMPOO**_ _ **!**_ "

"And I love my husband," Shampoo said blandly, completely unmoved by his latest confession as like all the times prior. "And I love the children I had with him too."

"Ch-Ch-Children?!" Could this day _possibly_ get any worse?!

A strong blow to the back of his head sent Mousse stumbling to the floor. Grasping his aching head as he stood back up, he glared at the woman who'd done it. But Cologne was as unmoved by his glare as her granddaughter had been of his confession. "Stop being an idiot! You're here for a purpose!"

Hearing that, Mousse realized that this reunion with his childhood beloved hadn't been done by Cologne for the purpose of romance. But that there was a different and completely unrelated issue at hand. And this realization brought with it a terrible sense of loss and despair, causing him to shoot the woman a truly forlorn look. And, yet again, the elder Amazon was unmoved. "Stop looking as though your puppy has cancer. The world is danger! And we could always use another meat-shield to protect the _actual_ fighters!"

Indignant anger rose up at the implications Cologne just dropped, causing Mousse's back to straighten up considerably. "Are you saying that I'm _not_ a fighter?!"

"From the display you showed here, you are more of a lover than a fighter," Cologne stated bluntly. "And even there, you fail. If you want to prove me wrong, join the others over there and _get to work!_ "

Mousse looked over towards the strangers that Cologne had just pointed out with a calculative gaze. Most of them had been watching the spectacle between the Nerimans with gazes of open confusion, pity, and even some small amount of amusement. However, seeing him now watching them, the tall ones returned back to one another and restarted their sparring session. After a moment of indecision, the other three shorter fighters joined them. Even after just a few moments, Mousse could seen that all of them were highly-trained martial artists that probably could've trounced even the best of the grandmasters back in his old village. It was actually a pretty daunting prospect to realize that he'd have to be training with and against this group for several weeks or even months to come.

Squaring his shoulders and shooting Cologne a furious gaze, Mousse stalked over to join them. Before he could take more than few steps, Cologne called out, "And don't even _think_ you can get away with your over-reliance on your Hidden Weapons techniques! In this fight, it _won't_ be enough."

* * *

 **November 15, Age 761  
Western Peninsula**

Raditz was snarling in an almost primal way as he continued glaring down at the young man next to him. ' _I mustn't kill the human. I mustn't kill the human. I mustn't kill the human!_ ' was the mantra he'd started repeating in his head about three days after he'd started accompanying him. The reason for Raditz's frustration? He had come to the indisputable fact that his companion was under the affects of a powerful magical curse. Magic was not a foreign concept to the Saiyan. He'd even faced a few magic users while on the job for Lord Freeza. But this particular magic was _especially_ annoying! That was the only explanation for just how they could go in three hours' time from wandering through a desert into a dense jungle before falling face-first into the frigid waters of the arctic north, only to wind up on the shores of a savanna after they finally swam ashore!

It was like the fool could somehow teleport himself and whoever was following him! And Raditz _knew_ it was teleportation because he quite clearly remembered that they'd been in a forest not even five minutes ago and were now in a desert again. The forest, however, was nowhere to be found now. But even with this theory backing him, Raditz was still finding himself having to stop himself from ripping out his precious hair from his frustration!

Thankfully, the human had some surprising qualities that helped offset Raditz's anger and desire to just blast him into oblivion. The first and most obvious of these were that Ryoga was a fighter. He lived and breathed martial arts. When not attending to Raditz's injuries, to make sure that they were healing properly and that Raditz hadn't somehow jostled them, Ryoga was teaching Raditz a lot about fighting. Stuff like how to properly train with calisthenics, the importance of katas, the theory of controlling one's ki to boost their strength, agility, and overall abilities, and the dangers of overtraining and straining the body without any rest and recovery time. About a week after Raditz had joined Ryoga, the Saiyan had felt well enough to engage in a light spar with the human, both of whom made sure that to avoid hitting him in his injured torso. Needless to say that despite being quite a bit stronger than him, Raditz had been very impressed by Ryoga's combat prowess.

Another thing that helped Raditz somewhat overlook Ryoga's navigational flaw was that he was so very similar in temperament and body to a Saiyan. Aside from lacking a tail, he was just as violence prone, short tempered, and possessed a rather large appetite that was easily the equal of Raditz. These startling comparisons had gotten Raditz thinking somewhat. Just how similar were these humans to Saiyans? Maybe they were weak just because of the gravity of this world?

No matter how much he wanted to, Raditz couldn't just _leave the fool!_ He was the only one he knew of who could potentially identify the home of his brother. But he couldn't keep following him either because he couldn't be sure that they'd not wind up somewhere truly bizaare like out in the middle of an ocean. Perhaps the only _good_ thing about his situation at this moment was that he was sure that he was mostly fully healed now. The formerly crippling pain in his chest was now just an easily ignorable throb and he could feel his strength rapidly returning to him as the days passed.

 _"How?!"_ Raditz finally asked, holding up a hand to shield his eyes from a strong gust of wind that sent sand up towards his face. " _HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS?!_ "

"I told you I'm bad with directions," Ryoga pointed out for the umpteenth time, not at all distressed over his companion's mounting anger. He'd been in this type of situation too many times to care anymore.

Once the wind had died down, Raditz just stared at him in exasperation, unable to really muster up the energy needed to glare anymore. "There's ' _bad with directions_ ' and there's ' _being CURSED TO TELEPORT to random locations_ '! This is the latter! _How_ have you _not noticed_ that you're _cursed?!"_

"Heheheh," Ryoga chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head as his cheeks lit up slightly in embarrassment. "It runs in the family…sadly."

Growling loudly as his patience finally snapped, Raditz reached into the traveler's bag he'd started carrying around and dug out his scouter. Slapping it into place on his face, he barked out, " _That's it!_ We're _flying_ from now on! And _I'm_ the leader!"

Before Ryoga could retort or question him, Raditz had already grabbed him by the wrist and shot up into the sky. After a few moments of flailing angrily while reflexively fighting against Raditz's grip, Ryoga's eyes widened slightly as he noticed just how Raditz was able to fly. It was a very simple manipulation of his ki, but it was something that Ryoga had never considered before. Once he understood the theory behind, Ryoga reached up and finally managed to break Raditz's grip on his wrist as he yelled out, "I can fly too, you know!"

Coming to a halt after he lost his grip, Raditz turned and hovered in the air, watching as Ryoga unsteadily hovered nearby. "Then why weren't we flying _before?!_ "

"Well, I didn't know _YOU_ could fly!" Ryoga shot back instantly, his face lighting up slightly.

Raditz saw through his lie instantly but was too mentally exhausted to bother calling him out on it. And, frankly, it wasn't important enough to waste time on. "Just tell me if we start getting near or pass the 'Son brothers' house."

"Okay, but which direction should we go?" Ryoga asked, looking around in curiosity. They were still floating over the same desert they'd been in, but there was a small amount of green foliage and shimmering water visible on the horizon.

Tapping his scouter, Raditz waited impatiently as the device sought out the closest high power levels while keeping a weary eye on the battery level. ' _Just 15% left_ ,' Raditz thought grimly. ' _I **really** need to start using it sparingly after this_.' Finally, the device chimed weakly as it pointed off to the side. After getting the direction and approximate distance to four rather high levels that were clustered pretty close together, Raditz quickly shut off his scouter as he pointed. "We'll go this way for now!"

* * *

 **December 1, Age 761  
** **Snake Way**

For the better part of a month and a half, the two Saiyan brothers had been making the long journey down Snake Way. To speed them on their way, Goku and Ranma had come up with a clever idea of leapfrogging. One of them would carry the other on his back as he flew onward while the other rested. When he was nearing his limit, he'd land and they'd switch positions. It wasn't a perfect method and there were several instances where they'd almost fallen down into Hell because they'd misjudged their amount of ki. But the more they performed this switching system, the better they became at it and knowing their limits. And thanks to this system, they were making some rather remarkable progress, traveling easily twice the distance as they would've if they'd made the journey alone or had been forced to run.

At the moment, Ranma was snoozing on Goku's back. Goku still had easily another hour's worth of ki left before he'd have to switch out, but that okay. Thanks to his elevated position, the elder Saiyan spotted a majestic palace off the distance. It was floating in the air right next to Snake Way and, the closer he got to it, the more strongly he could smell something _delicious!_

Landing lightly on the winding Snake Way a few paces away from the front entrance of the palace, Goku shuffled Ranma awake, "Ranma! I think we're here!"

"What's that~?" Ranma asked blearily, managing to stand under his own power while wiping the sleep sand from his eyes. "We reached the end?"

As Ranma was yawning widely, Goku paused, looking at the continuing trail of the road that carried on off into the distance. The answer was blatantly obvious to him now that this likely _wasn't_ King Kai's place. "Well, _noooo_ … But this place smells like it's got _food!_ "

Now more awake, Ranma first looked up at the palace and then towards the continuing Snake Way. Returning his gaze up at the palace, his eyes narrowed. Survival instincts honed from a lifetime on the road with Genma, and later fine-tuned at Nerima, screamed to life in his gut as he looked up at the palace. "Goku, it's a trap."

"Huh?" Goku asked from where he was just about to start heading forward and enter the palace. "B-B-B-But food!"

"Goku, we haven't reached the end of Snake Way!" Ranma pointed out, his desperation starting to rise the longer he and Goku remained in front of the palace. "We can eat when we find King Kai!"

In a rather blatant betrayal, his own stomach made a loud protest against this idea, but he gamely ignored it. Goku turned back to Ranma with a prominent pout on his face. He looked as though someone had just kicked his most cherished puppy, so hurt and disappointed. But he made his way back to his brother without another word upon seeing Ranma's resolute stare.

Just as Goku had reached Ranma's side, the front doors of the palace started to swing open, earning both boys' attentions. At the threshold of the palace, several beautiful blue-skinned women appeared. They were all smiling sweetly and invitingly, dressed in elegant servant dresses that gave them all a regal air. As the leading lady opened her mouth to say something, Ranma finally acted on his instinct. He grabbed Goku by his wrist and shot off down Snake Way like a missile, Goku flailing comically behind him in his wake.

" _ **SEE!**_ _I TOLD YOU IT'S A_ _ **TRAP!**_ " Ranma yelled as he continued racing on.

"What do you mean it's a trap?!" Goku called back, struggling to either get his feet back under him or to break Ranma's hold. "They might've been about to offer us food and rest! _Especially food!_ "

" _Goku, you've heard all my stories of Nerima!_ " Ranma countered, finally pulling Goku onto his back as he took flight with his ki. " _Beautiful women appearing like that are ALWAYS a part of a trap! And knowing my luck, Genma probably ENGAGED ME to one of them! I mean, WHY ELSE would a group of beautiful women suddenly appear out of nowhere?!_ "

"You really think Genma could've gotten this far?" Goku asked, unsure if his brother was being irrational or if there was some basis to his fear.

" _I DON'T PUT_ _ **ANYTHING**_ _PAST GENMA!_ " Ranma hollered, boosting his speed in response to get as far away and as quickly as possible.

* * *

Meanwhile, the three attendants of Princess Snake watched the duo as they vanished into the distance with disappointed frowns on their faces.

"Huh, smarter than they looked," one of them remarked.

"Hey," spoke up another, her eyes narrowed in thought as she stared after their would-be dinner. "Didn't that one look kinda like that Ranma kid that Saotome Genma promised to the Princess?"

"Hey, you're right!" the first one gasped, remembering the picture of the teenager they'd seen recently. "Oooh! He got away!"

"The Princess is going to be disappointed that her husband ran off!" the third said bluntly, looking forlornly back towards the palace.

* * *

( **Author's Note** ) Whew, this chapter really fought me. Thank goodness Fiori75 and I had already mapped it out, otherwise I think this chapter would've taken longer to come out. I think it was a good idea that we glazed over Ranma and Goku's meeting with King Yemma and the long trek down Snake Way. Basically, if something happens off-screen, then you can consider it as remaining near the same as with canon.

I bet not a lot of you saw Mousse and/or Akane's inclusion in this story coming, with the possibility that they might become regular members of the Z-Fighters. And I wonder just how many of you saw motivations for Vegeta and Nappa wanting to come to Earth? Vegeta and/or Nappa wanna breed Shampoo! Ha! They have NO IDEA of the trouble they're in for if they dared tried that! But will Raditz be able to succeed in his mission for his Prince? Or will he fall victim to the Earthlings and/or Piccolo when the inevitable confrontation occurs?

And finally, kudos to anyone who can guess where I got the idea for the attacks Akane was using in this chapter!

 **Power Levels:  
** Raditz ( **age 30** ): 900 (injured), 1,800 (healed)  
Goku ( **age 24** ): 660 (with weights)  
Ranma ( **age 21** ): 650 (with weights)  
Piccolo ( **age 9** ): 251 (injured), 510 (with weights)  
Shampoo ( **age 21** ): 480 (with weights)  
Cologne ( **physical age 40** ): 468  
Ryoga ( **age 21** ) 450

Chichi ( **age 24** ): 297  
Tien Shinhan ( **age 28** ): 284  
Yajirobe ( **age 26** ): 260  
Krillin ( **age 24** ): 246  
Mousse ( **age 21** ): 225

Gohan ( **age 4** ): 15  
Kouma ( **age 3** ): 50  
Hayato ( **age 3** ): 12

Genma ( **age 46** ): 198  
Soun ( **age 46** ): 194  
Yamcha ( **age 28** ): 177  
Ukyo ( **age 21** ): 169  
Akane ( **age 21** ): 90  
Bulma Briefs ( **age 28** ): 12


	11. Corralling the Colts

**.**

 **Son Ranma  
** Written By: _Tellemicus Sundance_  
Co-Authored by: _Fiori75_  
 _#11: Corralling the Colts_

 **December 1, Age 761  
Somewhere in the Southern Archipelago**

It was almost two months since that fateful battle he'd had against his brother, the mystery Saiyan, and the Namekian. Things were going both better and worse for Raditz and his traveling companion now. On the one hand, they were traveling at far more efficient speeds now that Ryoga had learned and quickly mastered the art of flying with his ki. Plus, in a rather ironic bit, Ryoga managed to get lost far less often when traveling in the air. Raditz's working theory on that was that the higher elevation granted him a wider field of vision and an easier time to spot landmarks he was familiar with. He could and did still managed to get lost from time to time when he got distracted, but Raditz quickly reeled him back in with a commanding bark. A habit he had sadly been forced to develop after traveling with the young man for such an extended period. But on the other hand, Raditz's scouter was still losing its batteries each time he was forced to power it up. And without his scouter pointing him in the right direction, neither of them would've had the first clue as to where to go.

At the moment, the pair of them were flying at a relatively low altitude over a wide archipelago, scanning each of the islands they passed for any signs of life. Well, it was more Ryoga scanning them than Raditz. Raditz was only just beginning to grasp the concept behind the ability to sense ki without a scouter, having been studying Ryoga for the past while exercising it. But his sense of awareness was nowhere near Ryoga's just yet.

As they were moving on from their latest island, Ryoga glanced over at Raditz. "Where are we going? This doesn't look like Mt. Paozu."

"You'd know that how, considering your curse?" Raditz couldn't help countering back with a quirked brow.

"Well, we haven't passed the Amazon village," he stated back simply.

"And what's so special about these Amazons?"

"They're fighters and they live near Mt. Paozu."

That statement got Raditz pondering for a moment. It sounded familiar for some reason. Like he'd seen a place that fit that description somewhat well recently. And when the memory of that rowdy pitstop village with the high power levels he'd found on that first day came up to the forefront of his mind, he blinked slightly. ' _Is he talking about that one village I found? Those people did have comparatively high power, unlike the rest of this planet. Could it really be that easy?_ ' But after a moment of contemplation, he shook his head and refocused on the task at hand.

Tapping his scouter briefly to verify the distance and direction, he snarled in growling frustration at the weakly flashing battery icon. ' _Dammit, that talk with the Prince really sapped the battery! The scouters weren't meant for such long-distance communications without a spacepod_.' Quickly pushing that thought aside, he switched off the scouter again as he minutely adjusted his course with Ryoga following a few moments later. As he did so, Raditz decided to…enlighten his comrade. "Right now, we're searching for someone."

"Who?"

"Someone who likely has a better lay of the land than either of us," Raditz grunted in frustration. ' _If that Namekian can also sense ki, then this is going to be one frustrating chase!_ '

Ryoga glanced over at Raditz with a look of annoyed resignation. "If you had a compass in your eyepatch there, we might not have gotten lost."

Oh, the effort it took Raditz not to yell at or attack the fool was immense. Though, he did compromise with himself and threw the young man a dark glare before refocusing his attention forward. As he did so, he once again started a familiar chant to himself. ' _Mustn't kill the Earthling. Must not kill the Earthling. He's the only one I know who knows where to find the whelps and the woman_.' But, sadly, that rant was becoming increasingly more difficult to heed as his frustrations mounted.

* * *

With loud grunts of exertion, two tall figures in identical fighting gis clashed against each other in a savage brawl. Piccolo was busy fighting a clone of himself to refine his technique while also testing out new combo attacks he'd envisioned. The spar had been going on for the better part two hours now and he finally starting to reach his limit. With a final cry of exertion, Piccolo punched through the stomach of his doppelganger. But rather than fall back and die or fade from existence, the clone dissolved into a green viscous liquid that was instantly absorbed back into Piccolo. Despite the return of the remainder of his clone's ki to him, Piccolo staggered back and dropped to a knee, panting in exhaustion.

"Hey, I found some wild carrots over here, Hayato!" a faint but happy voice called out.

Both out of curiosity and an attempt to distract himself from his exhaustion, Piccolo glanced towards where he could hear the voice. With his keen hearing and eyesight, Piccolo was able to make out the three forms his fledgling disciples. The runt of the litter, Gohan, was bouncing up excitedly from a patch of dense grass, waving his cousin over beckoningly. That cousin, the leader and undisputed alpha of the trio, looked back towards him from his fishing spot on a rock next to a river with an equally excited look. Most kids would've been repulsed at the idea of eating vegetables. But these kids were Saiyans, with the appetites to match. And after been close to starving several times in their first few weeks out here, all of them had developed a very healthy appreciation of food in all its forms.

"Really? That's great, Gohan!" Hayato called back. "See if you can find some seeds or seedlings! We can start growing our own vegetable patch back at the cave!" Gohan nodded excitedly as he dropped back to the ground to start collecting and searching.

"Hm…should I or shouldn't I?" the blue-haired fighter of the trio was muttering to himself.

The tyke was easily the most fearless little scrapper of the trio (or any child of that age Piccolo had ever seen before) who loved to fight and train. And he was calmly demonstrating his fearlessness now as he was standing literally at the feet of an enormous tyrannosaurus. Without even a shiver of fear, he stood well within biting distance of the drooling beast as it too stared down at him. Instead, the boy was staring up at the beast with the gaze of a shopper at a supermarket, casually contemplating if he wanted to indulge in dinosaur meat for lunch or not. The more understandable, if a bit amusing, thing Piccolo could see was that the dinosaur was also shooting the scrapper a similar look of contemplation, whether the little bite-sized snack of the child was even worth its time. But the interesting thing was that the scrapper's lack of fear wasn't undeserved, nor was him considering eating the tyrannosaurus all that surprising. Piccolo had seen the boys dine on similar creatures, like wolves, bears, and any other predator that attacked them, several times in the past few weeks.

Standing back to his full height as he'd regained his breath and his exhaustion waned, Piccolo turned to more fully watch the interactions of the children. Due to his goal, solitary lifestyle, and even when accessing his father's memories, Piccolo hadn't seen too many interactions between children that didn't involve either fighting, running in terror, begging for life, or dying gurgles. So, watching how the trio of toddlers went about their days was a very interesting distraction for the green demon, when he had the time to spare to watch it.

Suddenly, a familiar aura washed over Piccolo's senses. Spinning around with a horrified look on his face, he stared off into the distance. He couldn't see the Saiyan yet, but he could definitely sense his rapid approach! ' _Dammit! He's onto us! Why'd he have to find us now?! We're nowhere NEAR ready! The boys have only just gotten the hang of the survival training and I think I'm finally starting to see some progress in my own training. But we're still not ready!_ '

Just as he was about to turn and rush over to the boys and flee, he sensed something else. It was smaller than Raditz's presence, but still very strong and surprisingly familiar. It was a presence he'd come across several times before out in the wastelands. The wanderer had always confused him because he always detected him entering and leaving the wastelands near him at random intervals. ' _It's him. That wanderer. What's he doing with Raditz?_ ' One was perpetually lost and the other had a professed desire to kill all life on the world. And while he suspected that the man was rival of the Son brothers, the man should've been more interested in fighting an aggressive Saiyan than apparently partnering up with him.

Deciding that this minor mystery was a waste of time, Piccolo spun around and sprinted off towards the boys. His sudden appearance among them caught all boys by surprise, causing them to yelp in surprise or fright. But he didn't give them any time to respond or question him. He swept the alpha and scrapper up in one arm while his second arm shot out at length to grab the runt by the front of his gi before rapidly retracting, yanking the child towards him.

"Mr. Piccolo?!" the runt yelped, but Piccolo ignored him.

Once he had all three in his arms, Piccolo launched himself off into the air

"NO!" the scrapper yelled out, quite upset. "MY LUNCH!" It would seem that this was the tyrannosaurus's lucky day, being able to live to hunt another day.

Focusing, Piccolo quickly began suppressing his ki while speeding rapidly so lowly across the ground and between the trees in an effort to remain out of the tracking duo's line of sight.

"What's going on, Mr. Piccolo?!" the runt called out frightfully, torn between staring at the ground that was passing by under them at frightening speeds or staring up questioningly at his captor.

"Yeah?!" the alpha demanded in confusion. "Where are we going now, you big brute?!"

"Yeah?!" the scrapper yelled, flailing his arms and legs angrily, hitting his siblings just as much as he was Piccolo. "What's so important that we had to miss my lunch?!"

"We're being hunted," Piccolo stated bluntly. There was no point in hiding this fact from them. In fact, it might even help to focus and motivate them in the coming days if this became a regular thing. That much more reason to get them to start taking things seriously. ' _Although, I suppose that also means that I need to start their training a bit earlier than I'd intended too_.'

"Hunted?!" the runt yelped. The fear and confusion clear on his face.

"By who?" the alpha asked, staring up at Piccolo with narrowed eyes that were far more observant and showed more cunning than what Piccolo figured was normal for any other toddler of a similar age. This one was clearly quite bright. But Piccolo kept himself focused on his task, not giving anything away.

"Is it Mommy?!" the scrapper asked, his hostility subsiding momentarily as he and the runt joined the alpha in gazing at Piccolo questioningly and with budding hope.

"No, it's Raditz," he answered bluntly. "The guy who killed your dads." A slight lie, since Raditz had only killed Ranma, but it was close enough to the truth.

" _ **LET ME AT HIM!**_ " the scrapper demanded, once again flailing angrily in an effort to break Piccolo's grip on him. Not even seeming to care or maybe not having noticed that they had been flying over the ocean for the past few minutes. " _I'M GONNA BREAK HIM LIKE THAT BEAR LAST WEEK!_ "

"No!" Piccolo barked, snarling down at the boy as he was forced to put more effort into holding him. The brat's strength had definitely grown remarkably since coming out here. But despite all of that growth, it was still nowhere near enough. "You're not strong enough yet, Scrapper!"

After a moment, the little tyke froze before he and the other two looked up at Piccolo again in confusion. "Scrapper? What?"

Against his best efforts, Piccolo felt his cheeks darken into a deeper green than normal as embarrassment swept over him. He hadn't meant to voice the nickname for the boy like that! Resolutely not meeting any of the boys' gazes, he instead forced himself to focus on flying again. Thankfully, their confusion had caused the boys to stop fighting his grasp. And then he spotted his salvation up ahead, a new island! As they drew closer, the boys also spotted the island and started immediately sizing it up, trying to see if there were any resources available for them to make use of.

Upon landing on a rocky outcropping that overlooked the majority of the large desert island, Piccolo unceremoniously dropped the trio to the ground. He ignored their startled yelps and cries as he barked out, "From now on, it would seem that I need to a closer eye on you three if that lunatic is looking for us. Meaning, I can't leave you to your own devices anymore. You'd best prepare yourselves, brats. Tomorrow, we're going to start the serious training ahead of schedule!"

* * *

"Dammit! We must've just missed them!" Raditz snapped, frustrated as he stood among the scattered trinkets of the small camp they'd found moments ago. ' _Dammit! I knew it! That Namekian must be able to sense power levels like Ranma had been able to! This will make the hunt more difficult!_ '

The Saiyan glanced over at his companion as he was poking through the camp, pulling a few very basic tools and food items. In fact, the thing he was most interested in was the large burning firepit and spit that had been set up and had a pair of caught giant fish that were clearly about to be gutted and cooked. Raditz stared long and hard at the fish for a moment before resolutely looking away.

"Well, I guess we should press on," he muttered to Ryoga as he reached to tap his scouter back on. But before he could he even touch the thing, a pair of entities shared among them decided to speak up – ' _ **GGGRRRRWWWLLLLLLLLL!**_ ' – and what powerful and vocal entities they were! Both Raditz and Ryoga froze as ravenous hunger swept over them.

Looking up at Raditz as he grabbed the fish and pulled out a large serrated knife from somewhere, Ryoga grinned at him. "Okay, but after lunch!"

"…" A slight blush lit up Raditz's face as he glared angrily down at his stomach. "Yes, after lunch."

"Well, at least whoever we're looking for was kind enough to leave most of their supplies behind," Ryoga said, already getting to work at gutting the fish. "But these aren't going to be near enough for both of us."

Raditz nodded in agreement. He had realized quickly that the accursed human's appetite was a match for his own. This curiosity had only compounded Raditz's growing interest in this world and its people. The more time he spent around Ryoga, the more like Saiyans these Earthling humans seemed. From Ryoga's matching appetite to the warrior sect of their society and their curious fighting abilities to their comparably similar appearances. During their first few weeks together, the two of them had even gotten bored enough to share some of their childhood stories to pass the time. Raditz found that he could sympathize with Ryoga quite easily in his struggle to compete with and best his archrival, Son Ranma. It was such a Saiyan-like motivation and his drive to get stronger really struck a chord in Raditz, causing Raditz to really start respecting the Earthling for the first time (though that did little to alleviate his aggravation with Ryoga's directional curse). Raditz had started finding himself wondering numerous things about humans. Did they all eat as much as a Saiyan? If that was the case, he could better understand why Kakarot thought he was one of them. And that was only one question of a growing list of questions that he was building.

As Raditz was turning away and looking around the immediate area for any animals, a loud crash sounded behind them. Looking behind them, the two traveling companions found themselves staring up at the drooling face of a tyrannosaurus rex. From the hunger in its gaze and the amount of drool it was secreting, it was obvious that it had decided that these two would make a much more fulfilling meal than the comparative snacks that the three younger ones would've made. It roared at the two of them, clearly hoping to make them flee in terror of its mighty voice and larger stature. After all, there was nothing more fulfilling than dinner after a wild chase!

"Oh look!" Ryoga said, slight excitement in his voice as he and Raditz stared up at the dinosaur in hunger. "Steak!"

"I love steak!" Raditz agreed, grinning as he shot up and delivered a powerful kick to the tyrannosaur's neck, killing it. It was dead before it even hit the ground. Clearly, the tyrannosaurus had made the last mistake of its life just now.

"Hey, catch!" After placing the two fish on the spit over the fire, Ryoga tossed a large sawblade towards Raditz. Raditz didn't need to ask, catching the saw and getting to work on gutting the dinosaur while Ryoga went out to collect the wood needed to make a larger fire to roast the larger kill. Despite himself, Raditz chuckled slightly in resigned disappointment. ' _It'll be a_ _ **real shame**_ _to depopulate this world. The food options are_ _ **UNBELIEVABLE!**_ '

* * *

 **January 3, Age 762  
Snake Way**

The wind was whistling past his face as it had been for the past three months as Ranma watched the winding trail for Snake Way shoot by underneath him. On his back, a loudly snoring Goku was resting from his most recent over-use of ki and flying. Though it was impossible tell because of the monotonous landscape and the lack of any sunrise and sunset to mark the passage of time, Ranma was pretty sure that the two of them had been getting a lot stronger because of their continuous use of ki. Again, it was impossible to tell how long it took them to wear out, but it felt to Ranma like they were able to fly for longer periods of time now than when they'd started.

' _I hope the boys, Shampoo, Ukyo, and Chichi are all alright_ ,' Ranma thought for the umpteenth time. He was really worried about them. He had been killed before the battle concluded and what Goku had told him of what happened up to his death hadn't been promising. Yes, their sons exhibiting such phenomenal strength was great news, but they were still so young and untrained. Plus, Piccolo was still injured and probably quite drained from using his new finishing technique so much. He'd be easy prey for Raditz, no matter how badly injured the Saiyan might've become after taking those hits from the boys. And King Yemma had been equally unhelpful as well, only saying that by the time that boy of the Son brothers had arrived for judgment that Raditz hadn't yet been killed. The unease of not knowing what happened, how that battle had been resolved, and what the aftermath was had been like red-hot poker jabbing at his mind for the past three months. Unable to do anything about it, Ranma instead used that uncertainty as added fuel to boost his speeds even more. ' _If Raditz is still alive and hurt any of my friends and family, I swear I'm gonna kill him next time I see him!_ '

A particularly loud snore from Goku broke Ranma out of his brooding angst. "Wooow…fried rice…shriiiiimp…teriyaki…Chiiiiichiiiii…"

"Heh, even in your dreams, eh?" Ranma mumbled to himself, doing his absolute best to not drool like he was sure his brother was. After all, Goku wasn't the only one starving. A pair of thunderous roars from their stomachs only further illustrated the point. Shaking his head in a desperate manner to get his mind off food (which was almost as hard as not thinking about his family these days), Ranma refocused on the stone path below him. In doing so, he saw something up ahead that almost caused him to stop, gawk, and/or drop Goku out of surprise.

" _GOKU!_ " Ranma yelled back at his brother, excitement racing through him as he put on a final boost of speed. " _WE'RE HERE!_ We're actually here _this time!_ "

Startled awake, it took a few seconds for Goku to get his bearings. Looking ahead as Ranma dropped down to Snake Way briefly to let his brother go, Goku's face lit up like Ranma's as he saw what had him so excited. Laughing out excitedly, Goku leapt up in the air with a cheer before racing towards the final stretch with Ranma hot on his heels. "Alright! We're finally here! _Hoo-hoooo!_ "

Finally reaching the end of the road, Goku looked around excitedly. He wasn't sure what he was looking for though. Maybe a floating building, a dojo, a palace like Kami's Lookout, anything really. But as he gazed around, all he could see was the same endless horizon of fluffy yellow clouds and lilac-colored sky. "Wait, is this some kind of bad joke? There's nothing here!"

"Goku, I know you're not _that_ bad at sensing ki," Ranma chastised lightly, sending a knowing grin at his brother. Seeing Goku's confused stare, he gestured slightly upwards with his thumb.

Taking the hint, Goku looked towards the sky while also extending his ki sense as far as he could. In doing so, he quickly located not only a surprisingly large power overhead, but also what looked like a very tiny planet. The world couldn't have be more than 500 meters in diameter. And though it was too far to make out any particular details, he could faintly see what looked like a stone pathway that ran the circumference of the planet, bisecting it into halves with both sides covered in simple green grasses.

"Wow, that's a small world!" Goku commented lightly before shooting a smile. "Come on! Let's go!"

Ranma nodded as they both leapt up as high as they could before taking flight, racing towards the planet with excited gazes. As they drew closer, more details became obvious to them. "Wow, it kinda reminds me of Mt. Paozu. A cozy little place to live and train, eh?"

"Yeah, you're ri-urk! AAAAHHHHH—!" Goku cried as he and Ranma suddenly felt their ki flight get interrupted and they soon found themselves face-planted into the surface of the small world with mind-numbing force.

Marshalling their ki to strengthen their muscles to their absolute maximum, both brothers heaved as hard as they could. It felt like someone had strapped massive weights down upon every inch of their bodies. Heck, even breathing was difficult! It took nearly five minutes and with more effort than was expected for them to eventually push themselves unsteadily to their feet and heave themselves upright.

"Jeez…this is…heavy!" Ranma grunted between clenched teeth, turning his gaze over to see how Goku was doing. Much to his chagrin, Goku seemed to be handling the intense gravity a slight bit better than himself. At least he was able to stand up somewhat straighter. "You…okay?"

"Yeah, but…this is intense!" Goku grunted back. "Man, you…have to be…super strong just to…live here!"

"How can… _anyone_ live in a…place with _this_ much…gravity?!" Ranma couldn't help asking, lifting his head painfully to try and look around.

"I know…" Goku agreed as he too started looking around again. "There's a house… That's got to be…where King Kai lives."

"Right," Ranma agreed as he started taking slow, heavy steps forward. "Okay, just…one step…at a time."

Slowly, painstakingly slowly, the duo began to trudge over towards the house on the horizon. The house might've only been maybe a dozen or more paces away from where they'd 'landed' on the planet, but those dozen paces had never seemed so far away as they did now. Ranma did briefly contemplate using his ki to fly over there but considering just how much effort he was having to exert with it just to stand up, flight didn't seem possible for the time being.

As they drew nearer to the house, Goku suddenly stopped and looked off to the side, his nose sniffing loudly.

"Goku! No!" Ranma grunted, already knowing what had made his brother stop. There was only one thing in the entire universe that could distract Goku from the possibility of training. And considering they were on a time table, Ranma wanted as few distractions as he could get.

"I thought I smelled something yummy," Goku said, blatantly ignoring Ranma as a line of drool trickled down his chin, eyes locked onto the apple-like fruit of a nearby tree. "Food!"

"Goku!" Ranma called, trying feebly to catch his brother before he wandered off. But even without the intense gravity slowing him down, there was no way Ranma could've caught him. Goku had essentially been fasting for upwards of three months now, the longest he'd ever gone without food in his entire life (or death, as the case might be). So, with his stomach almost literally roaring like a tyrannosaurus and food well within sight, Goku was now a Saiyan on a mission and now amount of talking was going to sway him from his goal!

"Fine! Go…stuff your stomach…ya black hole! …More training for me!" Of course, second thunderous roar filled the air, betraying Ranma's own hunger. But, again, he gamely ignored it for now. Once he'd managed to get King Kai to agree to train him so he could get strong enough to protect his home and family, then and _only then_ would he start begging for food!

Reaching the door and lifting his arm, Ranma knocked slowly upon it, straining with all his might. "Hello! Anyone home?!"

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" a nasally voice called from inside. As Ranma feebly stumbled back a step, he could hear the footsteps of someone moving around inside as easily as someone back on Earth. The door opened easily, revealing the short, stout form of a blue man with almost bug-like antenna. Stepping out of the house, the person smiled up at Ranma as he slid into a casual stance. "Hi there, I'm King Kai. Who are you?"

"I'm Son Ranma," Ranma stated, bowing as low he could without toppling over. Pointing off to the side, he added, "And that's my brother, Son Goku."

King Kai's expression was unreadable as he stared at Ranma for a long moment. For the briefest second, Ranma thought he saw a flash of something akin to disapproval cross the rotund Kai's face. But it passed so quickly it left Ranma wondering if he'd just imagined it. Looking to the side, King Kai's expression changed to something approaching bewildered. Following his gaze, Ranma felt a sweatdrop of embarrassment slide down his temple as he saw Goku imitating a brown, chubby monkey.

"Goku! Quit making a _monkey of yourself_ , come over here and say 'hi' to King Kai!" Ranma yelled out as he looked away from Goku, hating how he was feeling weirdly embarrassed for Goku's antics. ' _Then again, someone's gotta be since he probably isn't_.' His embarrassment was made worse when King Kai broke out into a series of snorting chuckles and giggles, covering his mouth to keep from laughing out loudly.

"Huh?" Goku said, looking over towards Ranma and spotting the blue figure. Quickly straightening himself up and pointing towards them, he asked, "Oh, _that's_ King Kai? That makes more sense. But then, who's that?"

"That's Bubbles, my pet monkey," King Kai said as he regained control of himself. As Goku trudged up next to Ranma, King Kai looked between the two searchingly as his antenna started twitching and moving about for a few moments. Then he started humming to himself as he looked down at the ground, causing Ranma and Goku to look at one another in confusion to what he was doing. As they returned their gazes to the strange being, he lifted his gaze up at them again. "I see, so that's what happening. Quite a mess will be waiting for you two when you get back home."

"What?! You already know what's going to happen?!" Goku asked, quite shocked.

"No, but I can make educated guesses based on what I do know," King Kai countered, holding up a finger to illustrate his point. "For instance, that Saiyan warrior you two fought is still very much alive and trapped on Earth."

"WHAT?!" both brothers yelled, very distressed. "Piccolo wasn't able to kill him?!"

"What about Gohan, Hayato, and Kouma?! Our families and friends?! The earth?!"

"Calm down!" King Kai ordered, causing both to freeze as they reined in their fears and emotions. "Yes, the Saiyan warrior Raditz is still alive. But don't worry, he isn't going around destroying everything and killing people. It seems that he received a transmission from one of his colleagues out in space, the former monarch of your race, Prince Vegeta. It seems that he and the other Saiyan had been listening in on everything that happened during your encounters with Raditz. Raditz has since been ordered to locate and collect your sons in preparation for their arrival. And when they heard that there might be the possibility of a female Saiyan on Earth, it _really_ piqued their interests."

"What? Why?" Goku asked.

On the other hand, Ranma quickly pieced it together with a look of disgust, horror, and anger drifting across his face. "No! No, he won't! Shampoo is _MY wife!_ There is _**NO WAY**_ I'm gonna let him lay a finger on her or _any_ of my family!"

"But that's not the only reason they're going there," King Kai continued, watching Ranma's simmering anger closely for a moment. "It seems that they are also interested in examining the fighting potential and prowess of your two's sons. As I'm sure you're both already aware, your sons all seem to possess a potential that far exceeds anything that the previous Saiyan race was capable of. They are coming to see the extent of that potential and to see if crossbreeding with the humans of Earth might produce similarly powerful half-breeds."

Ranma and Goku both had looks of concern, uncertainty, and anger as they tried to work through these revelations. King Kia allowed them a brief moment to think on things before he cleared his throat loudly and focused his attention squarely on Ranma. This time, that look of disapproval had returned and utterly unmistakable for anything else. "Speaking of which, you have some explaining to do, Son Ranma. There were only supposed to be _four_ Saiyans left. The dying embers of a once-monstrous race. Why have you doubled that number?"

For a moment, Ranma froze, feeling very strangely like a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar. A feeling that was only compounded more as he felt Goku glance between the two of them in confusion. "Ah…how do you know about that?"

"You think the Kais don't pay attention to the wishes used on those 'Dragonballs' of yours?" King Kai counter-asked. "We need to make sure that someone doesn't wish themselves to be made into _gods_ or something equally _ridiculous_ like that after all."

"Wait, you made yourself a Saiyan?" Goku asked, focusing upon Ranma. "When was this?"

"When me and the girls went after the balls on our own that one time," Ranma answered easily.

"Wait, does this mean that you're _really_ -really my brother?!" a look of dawning glee on his face as a wide smile rose up.

"Yes, Goku, that's the important part," King Kai stated in a clearly exaggerated sarcastic tone. "Not that he just doubled the amount of a race who once almost destroyed an entire galaxy while 'looking for a good time'!"

"Yehee!" Goku cheered, throwing his arms up in joy. If he'd been able to, Goku would've also been jumping for joy as well. "Ranma's my brother! Ranma's my brother!"

Despite the seriousness of the conversations they'd been having, Ranma couldn't help the small smile from crossing his face as Goku's easy acceptance. However, the third of their number was nowhere near as pleased as Goku. Materializing a lead mallet in his hand, King Kai smacked Goku upside the head, sending him crashing to the ground with a severe grimace of agony on his face. As Goku painfully pushed himself back to his feet, King Kai returned his disapproving gaze upon Ranma. "Explain. Now."

Ranma shrugged nonchalantly. "Don't see what's there to explain. I wanted to be Goku's brother and I wanted to always get stronger."

"That explains you," King Kai snarked. "But what about the other three?"

"Well, my wife and her grandmother also wanted to get stronger and I might as well have offered it to my rival so that he'd have the same advantages that I have," Ranma said simply, completely unrepentant of what he'd done and not seeing what was wrong with it. "Otherwise, he wouldn't really be my rival after a while."

"That's it?" Now the look of disapproval on the Kai's face faltered, changing to something that Ranma couldn't quite identify. "You all just wanted to get strong?" He raised his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose in annoyed exasperation. "And because of that, you just re-released evolution's greatest 'fuck you' to the rest of the universe just to get stronger?!"

"I don't see what the problem is," Ranma said, crossing his arms somewhat indignantly as he gazed down on the Kai with a slight glare. "There's only me, Goku, Ryoga, Cologne, Shampoo, and Kouma, isn't there? I might not know much about biology and genetics, but even I know that that's not enough to make a viable population, right? …Well, not without some _**REALLY**_ weird fetishes."

The look on King Kai's face as he gazed at Ranma started out as disbelieving exasperation. But then realization of something struck him and his expression turned to that of resigned exasperation instead. "You don't know."

"Know what?" both Ranma and Goku asked.

"You have no idea what Elder Cologne plans to do with the Dragonballs when they're all gathered together again, do you?" King Kai asked, his knowing gaze bouncing between the two.

"Huuh?"

"How do you think she's been able to convince so many others of her people to come from your own universe to here?" King Kai asked, focusing his question on Ranma.

"What's he talking about?" Goku asked, glancing at Ranma.

However, Ranma didn't answer as his mind was racing, trying to piece together the answer from the hints that King Kai had been giving them. It didn't take long. "Wait, do you mean…?"

"That's right, Ranma," King Kai said, though his tone was anything but congratulatory. "She's planning to make every single member that's migrated over into a Saiyan with one wish. Congratulations, you've doomed your world, the galaxy, and the universe."

"We won't let that happen!" Goku snapped, his gaze fierce and resolved.

"And what happens when you're both dead, and three generations later, the Saiyans still have the instinct to fight?!" King Kai demanded. Seeing their looks of confusion, King Kai sighed heavily. "Fine, allow me to explain a bit of the Saiyan origins on their homeworld of Planet Vegeta." And so, King Kai revealed to the two of them what had happened several hundred years ago. Of how the Saiyans had crash-landed upon Planet Plant and started building their civilization anew. Of how they came into conflict with the original inhabitants of the planet and the eventual genocide of that race, the Tuffles.

Once King Kai finished telling them this story, he gave them a hard stare as he asked, "So, how are you sure this fate won't happen to the Earth after you're both gone?"

Ranma and Goku were silent, as they had been throughout the retelling. Then, slowly, they turned and shared a firm glance between each other before they returned to their gazes upon the Kai.

* * *

 **Kami's Lookout  
Same time…**

"Remember, you must follow the natural channels of ki within the body," Kami coached softly, watching with budding pride at his two apprentices.

Kami stood at the threshold of a small side room that had been converted into an impromptu hospital and classroom. Kneeling next to a pair of special mannequins that had a complex series of lines engraved into them were Ukyo and Chichi. Both of them were holding their palms the dummies as a soft ki washed out from them and across the mannequins. The ki filled the engraved lines with a soft green glow as it traveled up and down the lengths of the body. Whenever they made a mistake or allowed their ki to drift out of the preset lines, there would be a small cry from the mannequin as the area where it happened flared red. Those incidents had been common place when they'd started this training, but now only occurred a handful of times a day.

The two young mothers were presently learning how to use their ki to heal people. Unlike what was required with the fighters of the team, the two budding healers didn't need immense fighting power but perfect ki control. The Guardian of the Earth was somewhat surprised by these two. Given their martial natures and upbringing, they seemed to possess a natural skill at the difficult art of healing. Once they'd figured out the trick of healing, they had started growing in leaps and bounds.

"Very good," Kami stated, judging that the lesson had run its course. "That's enough for now. Go rest and recover. We'll pick up again in an hour. Tomorrow, I think I'll let you practice on one of the less-wounded fighters."

"Thanks, Kami," Ukyo said, nodding towards him as she and Chichi stood up. As they exited the room, Ukyo caught the calculative look in Chichi's eyes. "What's on your mind, Chichi?"

Startled from her thoughts, Chichi shot Ukyo a slight deer-in-the-headlights look before she relaxed. "I think I now know what I want Gohan to be when he grows up. A doctor."

Ukyo chuckled slightly as she already caught onto Chichi's thoughts. "Right. And after you teach him how to use this ki-healing technique, he could become a world-famous miracle doctor that all of the high-paying jobs and influential people will flock to. That way, he, his wife, and future children will be set for life, right?"

"Exactly!" Chichi chirped with her eyes sparkling in excitement over her cunning plan for her child's potentially bright future.

"Well, it is a new exercise for using his ki, so I guess Goku probably wouldn't throw too much of a fit over it," Ukyo mused as they exited the palace and walked off to the side. Ukyo dropped lightly down to sit upon the tiled floor and rested her back on the palace's wall alongside Chichi as they watched the intense sparring session that was happening between Shampoo and Cologne.

Both women were little more than blurs of speed as thunderous explosions echoed across the open air of the Lookout's massive courtyard. Though she couldn't see much of the action anymore, Ukyo was able to glimpse a few split-seconds of fighting and it seemed that her co-wife was giving as good as she got. Then, abruptly, it came to an end when Cologne dropkicked Shampoo in the face and sent her crashing to the ground with a pained cry. Cologne landed lightly on the ground and watched her slowly recovering descendent try to pick herself up. Though it might've seemed that she was humoring Shampoo because of her obvious exhaustion, Ukyo could somewhat see that the youthful Elder was barely controlling her own breathing and shivering body as well.

"Get up, Shampoo!" Cologne barked harshly. "We're not done yet!"

"I know…I know," Shampoo groaned back as she finally managed to push herself over so that she was lying on the ground, propped up on her elbows.

"Wow, that was hard," came a pained and exhausted voice from inside the palace. All four women turned to watch as the male fighters stumbled outside. Krillin and Yamcha even collapsed to the ground gracelessly, chests heaving rapidly for air. Needless to say, their training in the Pendulum Room was proving to be very, very harsh.

"Do we really have to train this hard?" Mousse complained as usual. Although, to his credit, he was every bit as exhausted and torn up as the rest of the fighters were. "Surely they can't be as challenging as _that!_ "

"Of all that, and probably more," Cologne replied.

"How would you know?!" Mousse challenged immediately, glaring with all of the intense dislike he possessed for the Elder. "Have you ever fought a Saiyan before?!"

"Boy, I've been fighting one the entire time I've been here," Cologne said bluntly as she gestured towards Shampoo, who was finally starting to push herself back to her feet. "Why do you think her boys have tails?"

"What? But I thought that was because of Ranma," Krillin interjected, though he remained on his back from exhaustion.

"In Hayato's case, yes," Cologne acknowledged with a nod. "In Kouma's case, it's from both."

"Does that mean you're a Saiyan too?" Tien asked slowly with a narrowed gaze. He remembered quite well all of the times that Shampoo and Mousse called this woman her great-grandmother. It didn't seem farfetched to ask, especially given that appearances could be deceiving.

Cologne shot Tien a rather smug smile. "Indeed. It seems that you're the smartest one on this tower."

"Huh? Wait a second!" Yamcha spoke up, pulling himself up into a seated position on the floor. "That Raditz guy said that there were only four left in the galaxy!"

"And to the best of his knowledge, he was probably right," Cologne said, nodding to the young man's point. "But there also seems to be something on this planet that can give people whatever they want."

"I see, so that's what you used the Dragonballs for," Tien murmured.

"The dragon's what?" Mousse asked, looking Tien with a perplexed expression.

However, Mousse's question was ignored as Kami walked over from the side. "I had wondered what he'd wished for even after he'd removed his curse."

"So, wait, does that mean you knew that Goku was an alien already?" Yamcha asked, very puzzled.

"No," Shampoo said, finally speaking up. "Ranma wished that he could be Goku's brother in truth rather than spirit. And with Goku always getting stronger, Ranma offered that courtesy to me, grandmother, and one other – "

"Wait, wait, wait!" Krillin cried out, jumping to his feet with wide eyes. "Are you saying that there's _another Saiyan_ that's wandering around on Earth, aside from Raditz?!"

Cologne, Shampoo, and even Ukyo all chuckled at the word 'wandering'. This confused the fighters for a moment before Cologne clarified. "Wandering is right. That fool wouldn't be able to find north even if he had a map, compass, and clear and precise directions." Dawning looks of realization filtered across all of the Dragon Team since all of them had bumped into the aforementioned Lost Man on several occasions, even fought him a time or two.

"Hold on a second!" Mousse yelled I fast-growing anger. "That bastard let _Ryoga_ become stronger _and not me?!_ "

As Ukyo and Shampoo bristled at the blind duck's insinuation, Cologne quickly spoke up in an effort to stave off a fight. The rest of the fighters just watched with slight confusion. Although they'd been training alongside him for a while now, none of them had really managed to learn anything about Mousse's past relationship with the Son family since neither he nor they wanted to talk about it. So, the strange antipathy they could sense between him and them was somewhat confusing since they didn't have any context about it.

" _Don't be a fool, Mousse!_ " Cologne barked out. "Before he'd made the wish, you'd tried to kill him _several times_. And although he probably would've been able to forgive that, you also kept getting in the way of him and his wife. However, at this point in time, I might reconsider such things. And, in fact, might extend the courtesy to _more_ than just the people of my village." The glance she shot towards the Dragon Team made the hint of that statement all-too-obvious for all of them.

"No," Yamcha spoke up as soon as he figured it out. "We're saving that wish to bring Ranma and Goku back."

"Aahhh, but we don't _need_ to use _these_ Dragonballs," Cologne said as she pulled out the magic compass from a ki-pocket. "This is a magic compass that could point us towards and bring us to the things we want most, even if it's in another dimension. We could use the balls of another world instead."

"No!" Tien barked out, looking absolutely insulted and borderline angry. "I am human! I am _proud_ to be human! _I'm NOT going to throw my humanity away just for strength!_ "

"Ha!" Cologne barked out laughingly. "Pride in your race is _worthless!_ All that matters in the coming battle is how strong you are! And humans simply _cannot match_ Saiyans! For example, you know as well as I do that when a person breaks a bone, that bone is forever weakened as a result. So many small, incremental injuries build up over time. And, even though the person is still in the prime of his life, the warrior or sportsman will have to retire to prevent themselves from becoming truly crippled or even dead! Saiyans don't have that limitation! When those broken bones are healed, they become stronger than they were! That is why the Saiyans are often reputed to be potentially one of the strongest of the universe!"

If Tien had looked insulted and angry before, he was positively livid now. Chiaotzu just looked remorseful as he glanced between Tien and Cologne. Krillin and Yamcha both looked flabbergasted, having not truly understood the exact differences between Saiyans and humans (aside from the whole tail transforming trick). Ukyo and Shampoo just looked at the ground with annoyed and resigned expressions on their faces since they could already see what Cologne was trying to do here. Chichi looked surprised and thoughtful, cocking her head as she contemplated these revelations. On the other hand, Mousse looked torn between seething fury that his hated enemy had gained such a tremendous advantage and hopeful cunning as he tried to figure out a way that he could gain such power for himself.

After giving them a moment to gather their thoughts, Cologne continued, "Mark my words. When the two hostile Saiyans arrive, it shall be myself, Shampoo, Ranma, and Goku who'll deal with them."

At that, all of the Dragon Team took offense. But it was Mousse who voiced his displeasure first. "Didn't you bring me here to train and help defend the world?!"

"If you recall, I referred to you as a 'meat shield' to defend the _real_ fighters," Cologne pointed out bluntly. She ignored Mousse's bristling as she turned back to the others. "Now, why don't you lot get back to your playfighting while Shampoo and I finish up our training for the day? Shoo-shoo!" She even accentuated her final command with a casual wave of her hand, as though she were an aristocratic lady trying to order an unliked servant to leave her presence, before walking back out towards the more open area of the courtyard. Shampoo shot the group an apologetic look before hurrying after her grandmother to continue their sparring.

With a loud snarl, Tien spun around and marched back into the palace with a determined gait in his steps. Their exhaustion forgotten in light of Cologne's demeaning speech and the new revelations they'd learned, the rest of the fighters were just a few moments behind him, tempers hot and determination refocused. Their destination was the dreaded Pendulum Room that they'd only just exited mere minutes ago.

It was as the men were walking away that Kami shared a brief look with Elder Cologne and nodded. Harsh though her words may be, he couldn't deny that she had also spoken the truth. Her words had also pushed the fighters to train all the harder, even if it was only to prove her wrong. It was an interesting tactic. An attack to their pride as warriors when compared to his own attempts at instilling purpose to them as Earth's greatest and only defenders. It would not have been a method he'd choose, but he couldn't deny its effectiveness on his students.

Perhaps they would stand more of a chance against the Saiyans than her words seemed to indicate?

* * *

 **January 9, Age 762  
Southern Wastelands**

It was near midnight and the pair of hunters were close to their prey. However, despite their best efforts, they still couldn't quite find them. It had been a dogged game of cat and mouse. But one that was finally, if slowly, starting to come to an end as they were drawing unerringly closer to their goal. Where once they might've been several dozen miles away, they were now less than a kilometer, despite the prey's constant movement.

Floating somewhat lazily through the air, the two warriors stared down at the ground below them with narrowed, focused gazes. Their prey had long since abandoned the islands of the southern sea for the more plentiful hiding places of the continent. With his now budding ki-sense that he'd learned through observation and practice, Raditz was taking a much more active role in the search than he had been. Although his scouter was near-dead at this point, he still kept it on for familiarity's sake than anything else. Nearby his…dare he say it 'friend', Ryoga, was staring searchingly through a small woodland, seeking out any life essence therein that were even a slight bit higher than the common wildlife of the area. This was admittedly a more difficult task than one might've expected since dinosaurs were quite prominent in this area, who possessed substantially stronger ki than more other animals, a perfect place to hide in.

Once sure that the woodland held nothing more than what was expected, Ryoga finally looked up at Raditz. He needed to ask a question, and it had been gnawing at him for weeks. However, he'd tried not asking out of an understanding that his companion wasn't in the mood for idle chitchat due to his mood being almost perpetually dark and brooding. It was a mindset that Ryoga well understood from his teenage years, so he knew that to ask even a slightly personal questions would go over well. But, now, he just couldn't stop himself any longer.

"I've been with you for a while now," Ryoga started slowly, calmly. "Could you tell me who these people you're looking for are? And why you're looking for them?"

"We're looking for my nephews," Raditz answered shortly, remaining focused on his search.

"Why are your nephews running away from you?" Admittedly, with how hard of a man Raditz could be at times, Ryoga wasn't about to judge the kids wanting some space from him for a little bit. However, that didn't explain why this search had gone on for so long.

"Because they were _kidnapped_ ," Raditz barked out. Even if he didn't know it, that was honest truth, if not the _whole_ truth.

Ooohh! Now _that_ made much more sense! "So, we're trying to rescue your nephews?"

"Yes! Yes, that's exactly it!"

"Well, when we catch this kidnapper guy, I'll hold him down while you kill him," Ryoga offered with a slight grin.

That suggestion jarred Raditz out of his single-minded focus enough to cause him to look up at the strange young man with an unreadable expression. "…Mighty kind of you… But if we continue like this, it could be weeks more before we catch up. And I don't trust that we split up because we don't know that you'll not teleport to the other side of the planet."

"Heheh, yeah, that'd be a problem when trying to herd to a location," Ryoga admitted, a sheepish expression on his face. "Got any other ideas?"

Before Raditz could answer one way or other, the area was suddenly brightly illuminated in a pale white light as the moon emerged from behind some clouds. Glancing up at it through the lens of his scouter, which worked to shield him from the blutz waves, he stared at it for a long moment before he looked back down at Ryoga. "A bad one."

"How bad?" Why did that sound somewhat ominous?

"General destruction of the area to force them out of hiding," Raditz admitted.

Ryoga blinked slightly. "How is that a bad idea?"

Raditz blinked as he stared at Ryoga, before a wry grin spread across his face. ' _Truly, it'll be a right shame to purge this planet_.' Without answering immediately, he instead reached up, unclipped his scouter, and tossed it to Ryoga. "Don't wander off too far. I'm about to transform into a giant monster and destroy the landscape."

"Can you define 'giant'?" Ryoga asked as Raditz turned to look up fully at the full moon. Not receiving an answer, he tried again, "No, seriously, define 'giant.' Are we talking T-Rex-big or Godzilla-big? Cause if it's…"

Ryoga trailed off he watched Raditz start to spasm and grow. His tail unfurled from his waist he rapidly started growing dense black fur all over his body. His face morphed into that a giant ape as his eyes literally turned red after his irises faded. After just a few moments, the monster that had once been Raditz had transformed into a beast that the size of several stories-tall buildings, still curiously dressed in his badly cracked armor. Dropping down to ground below with a thunderous crash, the monster ape let out a huge roar of triumph as it raised its massive arms into the air.

As the monster turned and started indiscriminately crushing, blasting, and kicking everything within sight, Ryoga remained floating high overhead while muttering to himself, "Ah, Godzilla-big."

* * *

Not too far away from where their hunters were, Piccolo and his three burdens were busy setting up yet another temporary camp. This one was located inside a cave in a small rocky mound that Piccolo had blasted into existence. Now, the green demon was standing off to the side with a fierce scowl on his face and his arms crossed while the boys scampered about doing their usual chores to make it semi-inhabitable.

"Scrapper, get the fire started! Alpha, go get some water! Runt, you're on first watch!" Piccolo barked out. Not out of necessity of them needing guidance at this point, but more as a means of trying to keep himself occupied. He was slightly happy at how quickly they all jumped at his orders, but he was unhappy at how this game had forced him to get closer to the sons of his enemies than he'd wanted.

They trusted him. They trust him to watch over them as they slept, which is something that he'd never have trust to anyone else if he'd ever sleep like they did. Still, the close proximity _had_ improved their training more than if they had been left on their own. Already, he could see hints of his own style in their techniques and movements whenever they sparred together. Considering that they'd only ever seen him train by himself while using the Multiform Technique, it was rather impressive. And, as much as he hated to admit it even to himself, it gave him a sense of pride in knowing that he was leaving a mark on this world, creating his own legacy rather than inheriting one.

Glancing off to the side, Piccolo raised his brow slightly as he saw that Hayato (or Alpha as he'd taken to calling him) had stopped and was staring of into the distance near the cave entrance. The runt of the trio, Gohan, was also staring off at seemingly the same thing, but what made Piccolo curious was that Alpha should've already entered back into the cave by this point. Something strange was happening. Frowning, he glanced down at Scrapper, who'd just finished lighting the fire and gave a simple, "Stay here."

Approaching the other two, he called over, "What is it? What do you see?" Reaching them, he stared off at what had entranced them. "Oh, it's the moon. Why are you staring at the—?" Before he could finish his question, he suddenly felt the pair's ki start to fluctuate and grow wildly. His keen ears could hear the powerful drums of their hearts pulsing in their chests as their bodies began convulsing and changing and growing in size. Piccolo could only stare in bewilderment as he ducked back into the cave. "This is new."

After just a few moments, Runt and Alpha were roaring out bestial battle cries of rage and triumph that echoed across the landscape. Then, as if just noticing one another, they promptly turned and started bashing the other with their monstrous fists in a feral battle of dominance.

"Oh, that's not good!" Piccolo murmured to himself as he raced back, grabbed Scrapper by the back of his gi, and flew outside and high into the air. And he hadn't been a moment too soon as the small cave they had been in was crushed into rubble as one of the giant apes was thrown back and collapsed upon it. Maintaining his position high in the air, Piccolo watched as the two continued their battle, struggling to understand what was happening. "Scrapper, what the hell is going on?!"

Not receiving an answer, he looks down at the boy under his arm. "Scrapper?" Then he heard the same battle drum start beating inside the last boy's chest as his eyes went white and his body started changing right in Piccolo's arms.

"Oh crapbaskets!" Piccolo groaned as he quickly dropped the boy. Kouma landed on his feet, already full transformed into yet another giant ape and quickly inserted himself into the ongoing struggle of his brother and cousin. From the looks of things, the three of them were pretty evenly matched and were giving as good as they got. Piccolo could do nothing but stare as he tries to puzzle out what's happening and why. "Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshit!"

Then, seemingly from out of nowhere, an even larger form dropped down from above. This giant ape was dressed in armor and shook the ground something fierce as it's massive former towered over the trio, showing a clear difference between a fully grown adult and the juveniles. The three boys all stopped their battle as they turned almost confused gazes upon the newcomer, who promptly threw up his arms and let out a huge, domineering roar, showing clearly and unequivocally who was the strongest present. However, none of the three were willing to submit and all immediately charged forward to challenge this stranger who dared tried to cow them! The big ape easily leapt up and dropkicked the center before clotheslining the other two.

Piccolo just stared at aghast horror as he watched the battle ensue. Seeing Raditz in a giant ape form had quickly helped him put the dots together and remember some of the tidbits of information he'd overheard at Kame House months ago. He remembered Raditz talking about Goku never being able to reach his full potential because he'd cut off his tail. Was this what he was talking about? This giant ape form was their full power and potential? If so, did that mean that to remove the tail would force them to return to normal? As much as he wanted to, he could test his frantic theory because the four Apes were moving around too much in that wrestling style clusterfuck they were engaged in. Meaning he had no clear shot to blast one of their tails just yet.

Just as Piccolo was regaining his bearings, he became aware of a second presence that had drifted up next to him as it said, "It's like watching Toho live."

Turning, Piccolo shot Ryoga a hard stare as he recognized him. "Wait, you're that lost idiot."

"And you're the weirdo who's always standing on mountains," Ryoga countered easily.

"So, you really have teamed up with Raditz?" Piccolo demanded.

Ryoga just nodded with a very angry expression on his face. "And that means you're the guy who kidnapped his nephews."

Even as Piccolo was registering Ryoga's hostility towards him, and the likely reason that he'd been fed lies by Raditz, Piccolo suddenly had an epiphany. Without another word towards Ryoga, Piccolo spun around as he gathered a large chunk of his ki, forming it into a powerful ball, and blasting it upwards at great speeds. It traveled so fast that the ki ball looked more like a beam with its trailing tail of ambient energy. But when it hit its target, the result was quite explosive. When the light of the explosion died down, so too had the pale light of the full moon as the entire satellite had been vaporized to dust.

Ryoga stared up at the now moonless sky with a look of complete confusion on his face. "The point of that was…? Cause that's not going to stop me from holding you down while he kills you."

"You don't know what's going on here, idiot!" Piccolo snapped as he turned his attention down to the four figures below. Sure enough, without the moonlight feeding their transformations, all of them were rapidly shrinking down and changing back to normal.

"I know enough," Ryoga countered. "You kidnapped my friends' nephews and blew up the moon. A weird direction to go in, but, hey, some people are just crazy."

Piccolo shot Ryoga a dirty glare at that statement. But in doing so, he was able to see that Ryoga was just running his mouth to cope with a weird situation. So, that being the case, the green demon decided to ignore him and dropped back down the earth. He took up a protective stance between the three unconscious, nude boys and the quietly chuckling Saiyan warrior. Ryoga was just a split second behind him, landing off to the side so that he could attack Piccolo from an angle that wouldn't endanger the boys. "So, you finally caught up to us, Saiyan."

"Saiyan?" Ryoga repeated quietly to himself. ' _Why does that word sound familiar?_ ' Like a freight train hitting him in the testicles, Ryoga suddenly remembered, as well as the implications that he'd been ignorantly helping a vicious space pirate began setting in. A younger, more impulsive Ryoga would've immediately attacked Raditz on the spot there and then. But now, older and wiser, Ryoga decided to take a figurative step back and watch what unfolded.

"Relax, green man," Raditz said, not seeming to notice his companion's faltering state. His attention was focused squarely on Piccolo. "I'm not here to fight you. I'm here for the whelps."

"Knew there was a reason you looked like Goku," Ryoga muttered to himself.

"And I'm just supposed to take your word for it?!" Piccolo snapped back as he started collecting ki into his palm.

In response, Raditz holds up his hand in a stopping gesture. It was equal parts a suggestion and a threat, and they all knew it. "How about trusting my own enlightened sense of self-interest, Namekian!"

"Namekian? What?" Piccolo asked, looking and sounding just as confused as Ryoga did. But after a moment, he shook off his confusion as he refocused on the more immediate problem in front of him. "…Explain yourself."

"Suffice to say, I'm likely as dead as the rest of this planet will be when Prince Vegeta and Nappa arrive," Raditz stated bluntly. "You see, I failed. I failed in my mission to recover my brother. And the Prince doesn't deal with failure very well. It's in my own best interests that you all stay alive and get stronger, which will help _me_ survive when they get here?"

" _Wh-WHAT?!_ " Piccolo gasped out, looking as horrified at the implications as Ryoga. "The other two Saiyans are coming _here?! WHY?!_ "

"It's because of these three," Raditz said, as he gestured down towards the toddlers with an almost respectful gaze. "Well, them and their possible Saiyan mother. You see, the existence of possibly the last remaining female Saiyan has piqued the Prince's interests for obvious reasons."

"Wait, they're coming for Cologne and Shampoo?" Ryoga asked, finally inserting himself actively into the conversation and earning the pair's questioning gazes.

"Wait, what? Two?" Raditz asked, looking surprised and even slightly startled. "Which one was the woman who birthed these two?"

"Well, they all actually had different moms," Ryoga answered, feeling kinda sheepish and uncomfortable for reasons he refused to contemplate. But he gamely ignored those feelings as he pressed on. "I mean, Kouma's mom, Shampoo, is a Saiyan but Hayato's mom is a human."

"Then, this one has to be from 'Cologne'," Raditz said, more to himself as he looked down at Gohan, knowing that he was his brother's son. The family resemblance was very strong after all.

But Ryoga just shook his head. "No, Cologne's over 300-years-old. All her kids are long dead, I think, maybe? But she is Shampoo's great-grandmother, many greats- actually. I forget how many."

Needless to say, Raditz was fast becoming utterly flabbergasted at these new revelations. "What? _How? WHA-?!_ "

"That doesn't matter!" Piccolo barked, trying to get the conversation back on track.

Sadly, Raditz wasn't quite done yet. "B-B-But there's more Saiyans who survived than I thought!" He was so overcome by this revelation that he actually had to take a few steps away and take a seat on a nearby boulder, working frantically to sort this new information out. After just a moment, he looked up with an almost hesitantly-hopeful expression. "And Ranma? Ranma really was a Saiyan too?"

"Ranma _is_ a Saiyan too," Ryoga corrected and acknowledged, his gaze narrowing slightly. "What do you mean 'was' though?"

"Cause this idiot killed him," Piccolo 'helpfully' supplied, trying his damnedest to not smile. Both at the situation they were in and the memory of it happening.

"Wh-What?! Killed?" Ryoga repeated, dumbfounded, horror-struck, and just not comprehending that such a thing could be possible. "As in…Ranma's dead?!" After a long moment, Ryoga's body started visibly tensing up, his ki spiking up tremendously as he turned an absolutely furious glare upon Raditz. " _You…_ _ **YOU BASTARD!**_ "

As he was rushing forward to bury his knuckles into Raditz's throat, Piccolo suddenly jumped in and caught him in a Full Nelson. Despite all of his fury-enhanced strength, he was unable to break the steely grip of Piccolo who held him tight. "Calm down! He'll be back before you know it! Do you really think their friends will let him stay dead?"

Raditz looks up at Piccolo with a confused stare as Ryoga starts to slowly calm down. By the time Piccolo had judged Ryoga calm enough to release, Raditz's curiosity finally got the better of him. "What? What do you mean ' _won't let him stay dead_ '? Dead is dead, him and Kakarot both!"

Piccolo just the confused Saiyan a knowing smirk. "Wouldn't you like to know. On this world, we have something that can defeat death."

"Defeat death?" Raditz repeated, looking torn between disbelieving and almost yearning. "That's…That's insane!"

"Insane or not, it's entirely true," Piccolo remarks. Even Ryoga nods in agreement now that he's really started to calm down.

Refocusing himself and trying to put that horrible revelation behind him, Ryoga shoots Raditz a look of anger and betrayal before clearly asking Piccolo, "Alright, so what do we do now?"

"Nothing, we need him," Piccolo growled out, also sending Raditz a slight glare.

"What do you mean 'we need him'?" Yeah, Ryoga was still pretty steamed at his former companion.

"Did you already forget what he just said?" Piccolo asked, sending a glare towards the simpleton. "There are two more Saiyans on their way here already. And I'm guessing that they are even stronger than him if he's already willing to try and work with us to help himself survive. Having another Saiyan on hand can only help us."

"But we _don't_ need him," Ryoga countered, sounding almost childish in his exclamation. "We've got _me_ right here."

Raditz and Piccolo both did a near-identical double-take as the implication of that statement hit them. Raditz gained a look of complete understanding that washed over him as the numerous clues and similarities between him and Ryoga he'd seen over the few months suddenly took on a greater meaning than he'd first thought. On the other hand, Piccolo just pinched the bridge of his nose in aggravation as he groaned out, " _Of course,_ you're a Saiyan too. Just how many of you are on this planet?!"

Ryoga shrugged nonchalantly, not seeing what the problem was. "Me, Ranma, Shampoo, Cologne, Goku, and these three— _FOUR_ , technically." He added that last bit while glaring over at Raditz.

"Oh, good," Piccolo said sarcastically before he turned serious again. "You at least can help me train these three. I'm not sure how hard I can push them without breaking them."

Raditz let out a loud bark of laughter at that. Even Ryoga looked somewhat amused, much to Piccolo's confusion. "Trust me, green man, _breaking them_ is probably the _BEST THING_ you could do!" Ryoga nodded in reluctant agreement.

At Piccolo's continued confusion, the pair of them sat down and explained the basic characteristics of Saiyan biology. Needless to say, by the end of the explanation, Piccolo was desperately torn between wanting to bang his head against a rock for twenty minutes, scream out ' _BULLSHIT!_ ', and just stew in unbridled jealousy. Thankfully, he was distracted from those thoughts as Raditz decided to throw him a bone and explain the true origins of his own race, the Namekians.

* * *

( **Author's Note** ) Whoo! Don't know why, but this chapter really fought me. But I'm glad it's finally over. We're not pasted the 'halfway' point of the training arc of the Saga. So many interesting things happened in this chapter. I wonder which of them interested you guys the most?

The thing that's most pressing to me, as an author, is what you guys think of Kouma and Hayato. Do you like how their individual personalities are shaping up to be like? Any ideas for how I could 'improve' upon them? Or are they good enough as is because they're so young and relatively inexperienced?

That aside, I'm guessing that the thing that really caught most of your attentions was probably Raditz's apparent choice to switch sides. Admittedly, I had a lot of fun writing his parts in the story. Well, his and Ryoga's interactions, because they are so similar and yet so different in some ways. It was a very fun experience for me. But is Raditz being genuine or is this some kind of elaborate trap in a desperate bid to gain Vegeta's favor again?

Just how powerful are Goku and Ranma going to become now that they've got a 9-months to train with King Kai instead of the 6 that Goku had in canon, not mention they have each other as sparring partners as well to further push themselves against?

How well will the Dragon Team fair under Cologne's derisive fist and Kami's gentle hand? Can they make it through the training intact or will their wills be broken before the Saiyans even arrive? And will Akane EVER make it up onto the Lookout in time to join in with the rest of the team?

I guess the only way to know for certain is to read the next chapter. So, stay tuned for it!

 **Power Levels:  
** Raditz ( **age 30** ): 1,900, 19,000 (Oozaru)  
Piccolo ( **age 9** ): 1,630 (with weights)  
Shampoo ( **age 21** ): 1,050 (with weights)  
Cologne ( **physical age 40** ): 1,050  
Ryoga ( **age 21** ) 880, 950 (furious)  
Goku ( **age 24** ): 760 (with weights)  
Ranma ( **age 21** ): 760 (with weights)

Tien Shinhan ( **age 28** ): 520  
Krillin ( **age 24** ): 510  
Yamcha ( **age 28** ): 495  
Mousse ( **age 21** ): 470  
Yajirobe ( **age 26** ): 450  
Akane ( **age 21** ): 400

Chichi ( **age 24** ): 350  
Ukyo ( **age 21** ): 320

Kouma ( **age 3** ): 190, 1,900 (Oozaru)  
Hayato ( **age 3** ): 180, 1,800 (Oozaru)  
Gohan ( **age 4** ): 170, 1,700 (Oozaru)


	12. Taming the Dark Horse

**.**

 **Son Ranma  
** Written By: _Tellemicus Sundance_  
Co-Authored by: _Fiori75_  
 _#12: Taming the Dark Horse_

 **January 10, Age 762  
Southern Wastelands**

Consciousness returned to Kouma with all of the abruptness of being dunked into the frigid waters of the arctic north. Eyes springing open, body jumping off the ground, and tiny fists forming, he dropped into a defensive crouch, prepared for war! He didn't know why he felt so defensive. Maybe it had something to do with those fuzzy images of him fighting against a pair of angry monkeys, or how he had been literally curb-stomped by an even larger monkey in armor? But while those images were as fuzzy as a fading dream, they still carried over a sharp sense of aggression and a desire – _need!_ – to fight back against his enemies. However, his desperation and defensive stance soon crumbled like sand as he took in the picture before him.

He, like his brother and cousin, was now dressed in a new gi. He knew because it didn't smell like the sweat-stained, mud-covered rags his previous clothing had become over the past few weeks. Gohan was standing, well cowering actually, behind Mr. Piccolo's legs, while Hayato was standing in a slightly defensive stance between himself, but also behind and slightly aside from Mr. Piccolo. Looking past the tall, green man and his brother, Kouma spotted two new strangers facing towards them. Well, no, they weren't quite strangers. He recognized his daddy's favorite sparring partner. That awesome yellow and black bandana was hard to forget! And he also very easily recognized the long-haired big bully that was _**RADITZ!**_

" _ **AAAARRRRGGGHHH!**_ " Kouma yelled as he launched himself past Hayato and Piccolo, aura flaring wildly around him as he cocked his fist back for a punch.

Despite the slight surprise of the unexpected attack, amusement shone in the big Saiyan's eye as he watched the child rush at him. And he wasn't the only one. Ryoga was also watching with open amusement as well, reminiscing slightly on how Kouma reminded him of himself from several years ago. Piccolo shot the blue-haired youth an annoyed glare as Raditz easily caught him in his large hand, holding him tightly by the front of his gi. Kouma's angry aura died instantly as he started flailing, beating on Raditz's wrist and forearm with all his strength in an attempt to break his grip.

Seeing a chance, Hayato suddenly attacked. With a burst of superspeed, he appeared behind Raditz and launched an almighty kick at the back of his knee. But Raditz was faster, his tail unwinding from around his waist and wrapping itself around Hayato's torso. With just a simple flex, he lifted the boy bodily off the ground. In response, Hayato immediately grabbed ahold of Raditz's tail, squeezing it as hard as he could, knowing from his own experience that this should force the brute to release him. But after several long moments, nothing happened with Raditz blatantly ignoring Hayato's frantic attempts at escape. This act confused Hayato somewhat, nothing happened!

Piccolo also noticed what was happening and looked at Raditz with a raised brow of surprise. "Why isn't he hurting you? He's got you by the tail. Goku proved that doing that would leave you weak."

"Yes," Raditz acknowledged, nodding his head somewhat. "But Kakarot was far stronger than the whelp is right now. If it was you or Ryoga doing that, I would be in trouble right now."

"Are you gonna put them down any time soon?" Ryoga asked, sending Raditz a cocked brow of his own with meaningful glare in his eyes.

"As soon as they stop trying to kill me with half-baked intentions," Raditz stated, shrugging his shoulder dismissively. Ryoga just nodded in agreement with the sentiment as Piccolo palmed his face in exasperation.

"I'll show you half-baked!" Kouma yelled as he raised his arms and slipped out of his gi top, dropping swiftly to ground

"Scrapper, calm down already! He's on our side now!" Piccolo barked.

But Kouma ignored him as he leapt up to deliver a powerful punch to Raditz's face. Raditz smirked as he stepped back slightly, tossing Kouma's discarded gi into the boy's face and blinding him momentarily. Using this advantage, Raditz backhands the boy away, sending him flying into the arms of Piccolo. Only to frown as a sharp pain made itself known in his tail as the other one decided to show some tactical sense and use his teeth. After a moment to marshal himself, Raditz turned slightly as he bounced the other child off the ground and into his brother's arms. He took special care with this bounce. It needed to be proportional to the brat biting his tail. Thus, the dark-haired boy bounced off of his tail bone and into his brother's arms. As Hayato let out a pained moan, Piccolo dropped both boys to the ground and glared down at them sternly.

"Calm down already!" he snapped. "I just said that he's an ally now!"

"B-B-But he killed our dads!" Kouma whined out angrily, pointing accusingly at Raditz.

"Yes, yes," Raditz grumbled loudly to himself. "I killed another warrior in battle. It's not like I kidnapped you or anything. Oh no, it's entirely about your father."

"Shut up, you big bully!" Kouma cried out, glaring heatedly at the Saiyan. "You just kidnapped us because you were too afraid to fight our dads otherwise!"

Raditz stared at the child for a long, tense moment. If the tail and the Oozaru transformation under the moon hadn't been enough to convince him, the sheer and utter lack of self-preservation when talking back to an adult who could snap his spine with his pinkie proved that this was indeed a Saiyan child. Only a _Saiyan_ would have the sheer gall to speak like that as he did now. "No wonder he calls you 'Scrapper.'"

"And I'll scrap _you!_ " Kouma shot back.

Raditz blinked and blinked again. Then he locked eyes on Gohan, the only Saiyan whelp who _HADN'T_ tried to attack him. The only Saiyan whelp who came from his brother. Thus, the only Saiyan on the planet who he still had a blood connection to. Shifting his gaze to Hayato and Kouma, he quietly muttered to himself, " _Why_ couldn't _you two_ have been my nephews?"

There was a long moment of silence as the party took stock of the situation that they were in. All three adults seeing that they were currently surrounded by potential hostiles, each of whom wanted the three kids for their own reasons, and quite willing to fight off the other two to get their hands on them. Before the tension could reach a boiling point between the three adults, Gohan suddenly spoke up. "W-Wait, Mr. Piccolo. You said that he's on our side now? B-B-B-But he killed Daddy and Uncle Ranma!"

"Nooooo," Raditz countered easily as he gestured towards Piccolo. " _I_ only killed _Ranma. He_ killed _Kakarot_."

"That's not true!" Gohan argued angrily, before turning and shooting Piccolo a questioning look. "It isn't, right?"

Piccolo gave Gohan a long, hard stare with a blank expression on his face. The longer the look went on, the more Gohan began to realize that maybe Raditz had been telling the truth. Finally, after several long moments, Piccolo looked away as he shrugged indifferently. "It wasn't my intention."

"But it was a 'happy accident,' _right_?" Ryoga shot back, knowing all-too-well about Piccolo's fierce rivalry with Goku and Ranma. After all, he'd spent a rather considerable amount of time with them in these past few years. It wasn't all training, fighting, and sparring. They sometimes talked, went fishing or hunting or camping. And through that bonding time, stories were exchanged, and friendships formed and/or strengthened.

Ryoga speaking up attracted everyone's attentions for a moment. While Raditz and Piccolo just shrugged, the three kids lit up in joy, finally comprehending the fact that Ryoga, a friendly acquaintance of their fathers, was here! All of them smiled brightly as they chimed up, "Uncle Ryoga?!"

"Hey, squirts," Ryoga greeted, raising a hand in simple greeting to the trio, who all waved back happily. But Ryoga's attention quickly shifted back to the other two adults present. "But back to the point, I think I recognize you now. You're Piccolo, right?"

"As if Runt mentioning my name wasn't enough," Piccolo snarked back.

"Yeah, yeah, they said your name," Ryoga replied, not bothered by Piccolo's obviously bad mood. "But now that I know the name, I recognize you. Goku and Ranma told me enough stories about you. You're one of their enemies. Hell, you've tried to kill them before."

"Yeah, that's right," Piccolo admitted easily before shooting Ryoga an annoyed glare that would've caused any lesser man to cower in terror. "Any problem with that _NOW?!_ "

"Maybe a few in the future, but for right now? I don't think that either one of them would be too happy that _you_ being the one looking after their kids," Ryoga stated simply.

"Of course, the kids are with him," Raditz said simply. "He killed one of the patriarchs of their family unit. It's in the Saiyan nature to look to the strong. Especially if that strong one killed one of their own. Revenge is a powerful motivator. Given enough time, these two would've been trying to train under _me_ as well."

Ignoring the weirdness of that concept, Ryoga tried to focus on the important point he'd been trying to make. "Speaking of family units, do their moms know about this?"

"Mom?!" three voices echoed as their eyes lit up with hope, fear, and yearning.

"These whelps' mother knows about _them_ at least," Raditz admitted as he gestured towards Kouma and Hayato, both of whom were essentially just crouching on the ground beside Piccolo and Gohan now as they listened to the conversation around them. "She was there when I took them."

"Yeah, but which mother?"

Raditz blinked in surprise. "They have more than one?"

"Yeah, Ranma was something of a playboy," Ryoga admitted.

Raditz didn't quite understand the reference, so he had to ask, "He took multiple mates?"

"Ehhh, more like _they_ took _him_ , but essentially yeah."

" _Ha!_ Maybe he really _IS_ a Saiyan!" Raditz barked out in open and honest amusement.

"Should be. He wished to be," Ryoga muttered to himself as he glanced to side. But he hadn't spoken quietly enough, both Raditz and Piccolo heard what he'd said. But while Piccolo immediately guessed what he likely meant, Raditz was just confused. Both neither of them said anything as Ryoga returned his attention back to them. "Back to their moms. Shampoo might be okay with them training like this. But Ukyo and Chichi? Probably not. If I know them, they're both worried sick. Their husbands' dead, their kids all missing, and all of their strong warrior friends are probably off training. You'd better tell them what's going on."

"They should know better than that," Raditz said gruffly. "They married _Saiyans!_ They bore Saiyan _children!_ The desire for strength in Saiyans is all-encompassing."

"Maybe, but _they aren't_ Saiyans," Ryoga pointed out.

"Even if that's the case, how would we even tell them?" Raditz questioned, already seeing that this was something that his companion wasn't going to be swayed on. So, there was little point in trying to argue against him if he wanted him to become an active training partner in the coming months. "I don't know where they live. And even if I did, I doubt I'd be a welcome sight."

"Well, do you know where any of their friends might live? They probably know how to contact them."

"Ehhh, well, what about that tiny island I found them on?" Raditz asked. There had been a house there after all. And with that large group of them gathered it, it seemed rather likely that that place must've belonged to _someone_ important to his brother and Ranma.

"That's Master Roshi's island," Piccolo answered. "He's Goku and Ranma's old martial arts master. He'd probably know how to contact them. However, _I'M_ _ **NOT**_ _ **LEAVING**_." The accusing and suspicious glare he shot at Raditz was misunderstood by none of the people present, not even the three kids.

"Then who's going?" Raditz asked in slight confusion as he jabbed a thumb in Ryoga's direction accusingly. " _He'd_ wind up on the other side of the planet within five minutes."

Ryoga just shrugs, not arguing the very real likelihood of such an event. "You're right. I'd get lost. But that's _not_ why _I'm_ not leaving _either_."

"Oh?" Piccolo said with a condescending smirk.

"Don't wanna embarrass yourself?" Raditz asked with knowing smirk.

"Pride ain't got nothing to do with it," Ryoga shot back, completely serious as he glanced between the two. "One here is a self-proclaimed _megalomaniac_ madman who wants to take over the planet." He said that while eyeing Piccolo. Then he turned his gaze towards Raditz as he continued, "And the other is even worse! A self-proclaimed _genocidal_ madman who wants to _kill_ _everyone_ on the planet so he can sell it. No way am I leaving _either of you_ two alone with these three. I might not have been the _best_ friend to Ranma, but I can at _least_ do this."

After he admitted that, both he and Piccolo turned calculative gazes upon Raditz. At first, Raditz didn't quite understand why they were staring at him like that. Really, it was just the sheer impossibility of the idea that prevented him from acknowledging the obvious. The possibility that he, the one who was the source and cause of many of their current troubles and impending doom and who could've still been considered a very real threat to their world, would be the most logical choice available.

However, when the realization did click into place after just a few moments, he blinked in surprise before an offended glare and flush of anger filled his expression. " _OH NO!_ You can't be seriously thinking of _sending ME_ , are you?!"

* * *

 **A few minutes later...**

" _DAMMIT! They ARE sending me!_ " Raditz ranted as he raced through the air at his top speeds, heading towards where he remembered that tiny island house was located. "This is a bad idea. _This is a STUPID idea!_ How could they think of sending _me_ of all them is a good idea?! _I'M A PROUD SAIYAN WARRIOR!_ Not a messenger boy! After all, it's not like I'm the megalomaniacal one. Nooo, I'm the _genocidal_ one! Far better is to send the one who _wants_ them all to lie down dead at their feet, rather than just bow! _Of course_ sending the genocidal one is better than the _megalomaniacal_ one! It's not like I came here to have a tearful, mushy, weakling reunion with my brother. Nooooo. I came here to talk about _depopulating_ and _selling_ this world! How is sending me on a fucking messenger run to a place _full of hostiles A GOOD IDEA?!_ The only reason this has any chance of working is because they _can't_ actually kill the messenger!"

Needless to say, Raditz was less than enthused about his job. But considering some of the 'errands' he'd had to run over the years for Nappa, Vegeta, and sometimes other goons in the Freeza Force, this was actually a very easy and far less humiliating task than some he'd done, once he finally swallowed his pride and just went with it.

Given his rather substantial boost in power and the fact that he now had a pretty good idea of where he was going this time, his arrival at the small island came much sooner than the last time he'd visited here. In less than half an hour, he was dropping down upon the sandy beach of the island with a solemn glare on his face while still quietly cursing under his breath.

Standing a short distance away from the house entrance was bald old geezer wearing sunglasses and a turtle shell on his back, standing in a defensive stance. Movement from behind the door frame attracted Raditz's attention for a moment as a blue-haired woman poked her head out to watch the proceedings. Despite himself, Raditz couldn't help but stare at her for a long moment before a small amount of red crept across his cheeks. '… _Cute_.'

"So, it's true," the old man spoke up, tearing Raditz's attention away from the young lady and helping to refocus him on his task. "You did win the fight. Well, if you came here to kill the rest of us, I have to tell you that I won't go down quietly!"

Raditz sighed in annoyance. A fight _would_ help him calm down from his frustration of being used as a messenger, but that's not what he's here for. "Calm down, old geezer. I'm not here to fight this time. I'm here to drop off a message for the widows."

"Killing their husbands wasn't enough?!" Roshi demanded hotly. "Now you need to taunt their wives?!"

"Are you _trying_ to make me kill you, old man?" Raditz demanded himself, but he was exasperated rather than offended.

"Oh, I'm not trying, but it wouldn't be the first time I died," Roshi stated simply, with the self-assurance that spoke of experience.

Raditz blinked slightly in surprised realization. "So, there really _is_ a way to defeat death on this planet."

"Is that what you're here for?!" Roshi cried out, horror etched onto his face before he hardened his resolve and prepared himself for the fight he was now sure would come. "Then I'll have to tell you, I'll _never_ tell you how!"

"I'M – NOT – HERE – FOR – THAT!" Raditz barked out loudly and angrily, glaring hotly at the old man was _really_ starting to test his patience now. Not giving the old man a chance to jump to conclusions again, he quickly continued, "I only wanted you tell…Ukyo and…Chichi…that their sons are safe…ish."

"Safe-ish?" Roshi repeated questioningly.

"As safe as any Saiyan whelp can be while going through training," Raditz clarified.

"What do you mean training?" Roshi asked as he slowly slid out of his defensive stance, finally starting to see that Raditz really wasn't here with hostile intent.

This visible easing of tension from Roshi also prompted Launch to hesitantly step outside and down the porch as well, staring at Raditz with wide and almost innocent eyes. "What's going on, Master Roshi?"

"Launch, go back into the house!" Roshi barked, shooting the lady an alarmed glance, having not noticed her presence until now. "It's not safe out here!"

"It's not safe anywhere for anyone on this planet right now," Raditz stated bluntly, earning both of their attentions. "It doesn't matter if she's here or in the house."

"You're talking about the other Saiyans, aren't you?" Roshi asked, surprising Raditz momentarily that he already knew about their impending arrival.

"Indeed, you're more well-informed than I thought, old man," the Saiyan acknowledged, nodding his head slightly towards him.

"That doesn't explain why you're here, though," Roshi said. "Aren't you on _their_ side?"

"I am on _my_ side," Raditz countered. "Prince Vegeta does not cope well with failure."

"And you failed," Roshi guessed.

"Yes, I _failed_ ," Boy, was _that_ a bitter point to acknowledge. "Even if I stood with him and helped him exterminate this planet, I'd likely _still_ be killed by him. So, whether I fight _with_ you or _against_ you, I am _just as likely_ to die by the end of this debacle."

"So, teaming up with us gives you better odds of living?" Launch asked hesitantly. This big warrior was very scary, but there was something interesting about him that caught her attention.

"With you humans?" Raditz answered with a slightly cocky smirk on his face. "No, I'd be dead as soon as they arrived. But with the other Saiyans on this world, I might have a fighting chance."

"So, it's enlightened self-interest that's changed your mind," Roshi stated simply.

"Indeed," Raditz nodded. "However, that is, again, not why I'm here. The human women who wed Ranma and Kakarot. I have been informed that they should probably know that their whelps are safe. Tell them that Ranma's old friend, Ryoga, is with us and is going to be looking after them."

"The wanderer?" Roshi asked, surprise in his expression. He'd heard about the young man from Krillin, who'd gotten into a spar or two with him over the past few years. So, he was quite aware of Ryoga's relationship and rivalry with Ranma. "Hm…That _will_ ease their minds."

"Right, now that the message has been received, it's time for me to go," Raditz said as he flared his ki in preparation for taking off again. He had a _lot_ of training to get started on and little enough time to do it in.

However, unnoticed by Raditz, his sudden blast of ki kicked up the sand of the beach, which tickled Launch's super-sensitive nose and caused her to sneeze almost instantly. He ignored the loud sneeze as he started lifting off into the air. But he wasn't able to ignore the sudden impact of a shotgun slug hitting him in the back of the head. It didn't hurt him in the least bit, but the sheer surprise of the unexpected attack brought him to an immediate halt. He spun around to see who dared attack him.

On the beach, in the place of where the cute blue-haired lady once stood was now a cute blonde lady with a ferocious snarl on her lovely face. She was already in the process of pumping her shotgun again to shoot him. Before she had a chance to resume her attack, he yelled out, " _WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!_ I already told you I'm not here to kill anyone!"

"Is that right?" the woman snapped as she pulled the trigger. When she saw Raditz casually catch her slug and idly flick it away with his thumb, she tossed her shotgun aside and pulled out a machinegun from…somewhere and opened fire. "Eat lead, ya long-haired man-whore!"

"Oolong!" Roshi yelled as he raced up to try and wrestle the machinegun from Launch. "Get the pepper! Hurry!"

In a show of strength that was honestly surprising for such a slight body, the blonde was able to throw the old man off her and resume her bullet barrage again. None of these bullets, or any of the earlier barrage, hit Raditz as he caught and collected all of them in the palm of his hand. When she ran out of ammunition, he dropped the handful down into the sand and surf.

"Where'd the blue-haired girl go?" Raditz asked. This lady looked a lot like her, practically could've passed as her twin. She wore the same clothes, had the same adorable facial features and sexy body type. Hell, she even sort of smelled the same over the scent of cordite and gunpowder in the air that was slightly confusing him. If not for her different hair color and aggressive snarl, the resemblance would've been uncanny.

"None of your business, cock-shiner!" the lady yelled as she pulled out a bazooka and launched an RPG. Raditz again caught the projectile. This time, he snapped off the thruster end of the bomb and tossed the two halves in separate directions out into the ocean. Despite this latest failure, the blonde boldly called out, "You _better_ bring my friends' kids back _right now_ , you shitty hedgehog!"

"Woman, do you have a death wish?" Raditz asked, somewhat dumbfounded by her unexpectedly high levels of aggression.

"Yeah, I do!" the lady yelled back. " _YOUR DEATH!_ "

" _Oolong! Pepper! Hurry!_ " Roshi yelled again as he frantically tried to pry the bazooka from the lady's grasp. This time, he succeeded, but only because the lady was already busy in pulling out yet another rifle. This one was an anti-tank rifle, which she promptly shot at Raditz. Raditz had to briefly wonder just _where_ she got it from since it was clearly larger than her. Yet she had also clearly pulled it from her pocket. Yet again, Raditz was able to catch the much larger and faster bullet with no difficulty. In fact, a cocky smirk was rapidly starting to grow across his face as he stared down at the aggressive woman.

"You've got some _fight_ in you," Raditz said. There was a certain amount of heat in his gaze now that had nothing to do with anger or aggression as he stared at the lady with increasing interest. "Even if it's horribly misplaced. But you've got no chance of hurting me."

Finally giving up on trying to disarm the lady of her weapons, Roshi just grabbed her into a Full Nelson to impede her movements. The woman struggled wildly in the old man's grasp, looking like she was almost able to break his grip a few times. But the old man maintained his hold with a resolve that was all-too-familiar to Raditz. ' _Now I know where Kakarot learned that hold so well from!_ '

"Why don't you come down here and I'll _show you_ how badly I can hurt you!" the woman hollered challengingly.

After just a moment of contemplation, Raditz's cocky smirk widened as he did as bidden, dropping back to the sandy shore with his arms crossed. "You want to have a go at me? Well, here I am. Show me what you can do!"

Surprise flittered across Roshi's face for a split second. And that distraction was all his prisoner needed to break free of his hold, yanking out a pair of automatic handguns. " _ **OOLONG!**_ "

"Eat lead, punk!" the woman yelled, squeezing the triggers and spraying two lines of bullets at her opponent. Unlike before, Raditz decided to not catch these bullets. He not only wanted to illustrate his point that she couldn't hurt him with weapons like those, but he also wanted to see what her reaction would be as a result. After several moments of seeing her bullets just bouncing off his skin and armor while doing no damage at all, the girl dropped her handguns and pulled out a grenade.

' _WHERE is she keeping all of that ordinance?_ ' Raditz wondered, honestly curious about the answer to that question. He caught the thrown grenade and let it explode in his hand. Aside from a very minor warming of his palm, the grenade had no more impact on him than any of the rest. But the grenade did have an unexpected effect on the girl. The smoke that was kicked up by the explosion drifted into her nose and caused her to sneeze violently, instantly causing her to switch from blonde to blue hair as her demeanor changed from aggressive to passive and innocent.

Raditz stared in surprise and somewhat lack of understanding. It wasn't because he didn't understand what he was seeing. It had more to do with the fact that the smoke of the grenade had momentarily obscured his vision. So, he hadn't actually been able to _see_ the transformation take place. And while he was starting to get the hang of his new ki-sensing ability, he still had a long way to go in terms of controlling and fine-tuning it. This meant that he couldn't reliably say whether or not the blue and blonde ladies were the same person or had simply swapped places again somehow. Though he really doubted that anyone on this planet was fast enough to pull a switcheroo trick on him.

But regardless of Raditz's obvious confusion, the blue-haired Launch took in the situation quickly and made the connection between herself holding her other side's favorite shotgun and the slightly confused and confrontational stance the big man was making towards her to piece together the obvious. Somehow, she'd did it again. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry! I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Raditz stared at her for a long moment, torn between amusement, disappointment, and that strange interest he was feeling. Tearing his eyes away from the lovely lady, he turned towards a now visibly relieved Roshi, "You, geezer, explain!"

"Ahh-hahaha, about that…" Roshi fumbled, feeling somewhat embarrassed about the situation now that the threat had finally passed.

That was when a short and panicked pig came racing out of the house and blindly threw a handful of pepper into Launch's face. The effect was immediate and finally gave Raditz a firsthand demonstration of the transformation. And the blonde-haired Launch was all-too-happy to resume her earlier activities, much to Raditz's private amusement and mounting glee.

Earth was proving to be even more interesting than he originally assumed. He'd been to many planets. And it was the rare one that ki and magic coexisted amongst the populace. But Earth? Earth was quickly making him question why such a divide existed in the first place. ' _Yes, I'm_ _ **really**_ _starting to like this world!_ '

* * *

 **February 14, Age 762  
Kami's Lookout**

Bracing herself against the final rung of the ladder, Akane finally pulled herself up and set foot onto the top of the Lookout, heaving for a breath in the thin air.

It had been a grueling four months for her. Korin had broken her down until she could no longer deny what she was. She was only a hobbyist martial artist. Or, at least, she was. She hadn't been like Ranma, driven to be the very best. She hadn't been like Ryoga, striving to challenge the very best. She wasn't like the Amazons with their centuries of martial culture. She wasn't even like her daddy, who had dedicated himself to a skill for the livelihood of his family. Hers had been a hobby. Something to take a little pride in while simultaneously keeping up a good shape, but not something to dedicate her entire life to. At least, that's what it had been like before. Back on her world, anyway.

Here, here in this universe, dedication to the martial arts wasn't just a pastime to stay in shape, but a necessity to survive. After Ranma had left, Akane had decided to read Akira Toriyama's work in an effort to understand her lost fiancee's reasoning. So, she _knew_ the risks of being here, probably better than anyone else who'd come from her universe to this one. Planets, in this universe, had the durability of papier-mâché. And even if she was strong enough to tank an energy blast, which she somewhat was now, breathing in a vacuum was another matter. Becoming strong was the only way _she_ could survive, and the only way her _family_ could survive.

Sure, her sister was dating Yamcha, but it was _Yamcha_. Her other sister worked alongside the great Bulma, but that only paid her bills. Neither of those ensured that the world would not explode in the middle of the night because some fight-happy idiots who loved to throw around doom-beams let his opponent power up to his maximum. So, she had decided it would be up to _her_ to protect the world. Sure, she probably wouldn't be the best of the fighters. That'd be Goku, followed closely by Ranma or Vegeta when he finally turned around and became a good guy, if – _IF_ he turned around. She'd been reminded in these four months that this was _not_ a comic book. There was no fat author safely hidden away deciding the fate of the universe based on narrative flow.

Thus, because she wasn't a Saiyan, she'd have to be like Tien and Krillin: fight smart to curb the Saiyans battle-happy instincts. Otherwise, one of them would be _STUPID_ enough to give their enemies a senzu bean or let them reach full power. And she would _not_ be another statistic to the Saiyans letting their enemies reach their final form.

Now, finally on top of the Lookout, she resolved herself to finally show Ranma that she wasn't the same weak little girl he'd known her as anymore. So, she was very surprised when the first people she saw was actually Shampoo and Ukyo, alongside a woman who looked a lot like Shampoo approaching her to greet her. She wasn't really surprised exactly to see some Nerimans at the top of the Lookout. But she was however expecting to be greeted by Ranma or even Yamcha.

"So, the Violent Girl's finally reached the top," Shampoo stated bluntly, arms crossed with a stony expression on her lovely face. Akane had always known that Shampoo was likely to become beautiful when she fully matured, but now she had undeniable proof. But she wasn't only one who'd blossomed. Ukyo was also quite a wondrous sight to behold, if in a slightly more modest and traditional Japanese fashion. And even though Akane herself had also grown into an exceptional beauty as well, her self-esteem now took a crippling blow as she took in the angelic appearances of the Amazon and chef standing before her. The absolute _worst_ part of it was that both of her once-former rivals bust sizes had grown _**again**_ somehow! While _hers_ had stayed the same.

"And the bimbo's finally learned to speak properly," Akane snarked back, easily sliding back into old habits as a means of helping her to compartmentalize her newly-reawakened jealousy. Instead, she decided to focus on another issue. "So, where's Ranma?" Shampoo flinched at his name very slightly. It was still a tender wound for her. Unfortunately, Akane noticed the flinch, but misinterpreted it as usual. This was why she immediately glared at her former/current rival. "Where is Ranma?! Shouldn't he be up here training with the rest of us?"

Taking a long, slow breath, Ukyo marshalled her resolve and stated, "Akane, Ranma's with Goku."

Akane blinked. Then, summoning her knowledge of the DBZ storyline that she had mesmerized beforehand, she started connecting the dots and came to what many others would've logically assumed was the implied outcome. So, she nodded with a slight grin as she said, "So, he made certain that Goku didn't die." Sadly, she failed to notice that Shampoo and Ukyo's moods were worsening as she continued her line of questioning. "So, where are they? Don't tell me they're in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber."

"Child, I would be careful about what you speak about. Lest you incite the rage of a widow," a familiar voice ordered harshly.

Akane looked at the woman who strongly resembled Shampoo and blinks as the comment registers. "Widow?" The fact that Ranma had married one of the two was far from surprising to Akane. In fact, she'd actually been expecting it. Well, either that or him finally deciding to drop all pretenses and just go fulltime pervert by marrying _both_ of them. So, that being the case, she was rather quick to dismiss the issue of Ranma's love-life and focus more on the specific choice of words that the stranger had used. And 'widow' usually implied that… "Wait, Ranma's…dead? No! _No!_ He _isn't_ dead! He _can't_ be dead! He's the _best!_ "

Sighing heavily, the woman shook her head slightly as she continued, "Sadly, even the best fail sometimes. Luckily, we're in a world where that failure isn't the end of his story. Still, don't mention it around my great-granddaughters. They don't like thinking about it."

"…Wait, _Elder Cologne!?_ " Akane gasped, eyes widened comically as she gaped at the formerly ancient lady now standing tall and proud as a vibrant woman in her prime.

"Heheheheh, indeed, young Tendo," Cologne answered, absolutely preening at the attention she was getting while also conveniently ignoring Shampoo's exasperated eyeroll. "How good of you to finally join us for training on the Lookout. Unfortunately, the rest of the fighters are in the Pendulum Room. So, I guess it falls to me to begin your training. Tell me, did you ever try to learn the Breaking Point?"

For some reason as Cologne began smiling beauteously at her, Akane started feeling that horribly familiar and terrible dread again. The same one that she's only just escaped from.

* * *

 **June, Age 762  
King Kai's world**

Standing off in the middle of the clearing on the opposite side of the small world from where King Kai's house was built, Goku stood with his arms raised high in the air, palms flat and pointed upwards. His mind and ki were reaching out, sensing the entirety of the ambient ki of the small world around him. Sensing, feeling. reaching, beckoning, grasping. Around him, a faint shimmer of white, foreign ki started to coalesce and glimmer to life. But just as he starting to take hold of it, the sheer mass of the power began overwhelming his control and rapidly began slipping away. Marshalling his strength of will and dropping his mental barriers that he'd accidentally started raising again, Goku refocused his attention outwards to try again.

Off to the side, Ranma sat on the ground with an unhappy, slightly pouting expression on his face, watching his brother out of the corner of his eye with a slightly jealous glare. The younger Saiyan was finding himself sulking slightly as he tried to puzzle out why _he_ couldn't gather the ambient ki of the world nearly as well as his brother. Both of their first few attempts had been relatively the same, both connecting with the ki rather easily and trying to draw it in. But the longer it went, the better Goku got at it, now being able to draw in nearly tenfold the amount of ki he'd originally be able to and at a slightly quicker rate. However, Ranma's own attempts went along the lines of Goku's at learning the Hiryu Shoten Ha: explosively.

Standing nearby the sulking young man, King Kai easily noticed Ranma's bad mood. It honestly hadn't surprised him that Ranma was having such troubles with this particular technique. He had reviewed quite a bit of the youth's history since his arrival and was extremely impressed by his dedication and talent, especially how quickly he was able to pick up martial techniques, even before he became a Saiyan. But the problem was that Ranma also knew that. That knowledge had become pride inside Ranma, and it was now that pride that was now proving to be a double-edged sword. It was preventing him from grasping the reason why he couldn't learn this technique in particular.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of, Ranma," King Kai spoke up, earning the young man's attention. "Goku just has the right mindset and compatibility to use the Genki-dama properly."

"Compatibility?" That single word immediately captured Ranma's attention. In fact, if he was any judge, King Kai could almost see the cogs in his mind already starting to spin.

"Yes, compatibility," King Kai reaffirmed simply. "You see, to gather the ki necessary from the world, you need a totally selfless and open heart. A rare thing in _any_ person. But there is nothing wrong in being a little bit selfish. You were able to grasp and master the Kaioken far faster and easier than Goku did after all."

"Yeah, but I can't use it how I'd like to," Ranma muttered, frowning unhappily as he glanced to the side.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, the Kaioken's great and all," Ranma stated, grinning over at his mentor reassuringly. "And it will really help if my opponent is stronger and faster than me, but it burns hot. So, I can't use my best technique with it. Which is a real downside to the Kaioken."

"Ohhh, so you know about the hot and cold spectrum!" Somehow, he'd missed that part when he was reviewing Ranma's history. Oh well, it was like King Kai had ever claimed to be omniscient. No one, not even Grand Zeno the Omni-King, was omniscient after all.

"Yeah, my best technique is the Hiryu Shoten Ha," Ranma explained. "I have to draw my opponent into a spiraling clash before I create a tornado generated by his hot ki and my cold ki. It launches my opponent into the air while also bombarding him with debris and draining him of his ki. If I'd been faster or strong enough to endure it, I might've been able to use it against Raditz and we'd not have died. The Kaioken, well, it does give me a huge boost in speed. But I can't activate the Soul of Ice needed to use the Hiryu Shoten Ha."

"Yes, you're right. That is a problem," King Kai acknowledged with a solemn nod, fully understanding Ranma's frustration. "I didn't create the Kaioken with the intention of using it in the cold spectrum. Most fighters like to burn hot."

"Remember, to use the Kaioken, you must have a calm mind and perfect ki control," King Kai lectured, reiterating a lesson he knew that Ranma had already mesmerized. Still, it never hurt to try and drive home the point, especially with such reckless fighters as Saiyans tended to be or become. "Consider it like a pot of boiling water on a stove, the heat wants to make the water inside expand. You need to make sure that it doesn't, hence the perfect control. Your control acts as pressure, keeping the water inside the pot as still liquid. Hence why you're able to get more power out of it and yet you can make it reach greater heights. More pressure, more heat. But eventually one of those forces will give out. And that is the beauty and danger of the Kaioken because it is very difficult to control so much more power inside you than you normally generate."

Ranma blinked in surprise as a sudden thought occurred to him. "What if I invert it?"

King Kai stopped and looked questioningly at his pupil. "Hmm?"

"It's like you said," Ranma said simply. "It's like a pressure cooker. But what if I just made it super _cold_ instead of hot?"

"Keeping it at a liquid state, despite the low temperature," King Kai finished for him. He grasped his chin in contemplation of this idea. "That would come with a whole slew of new dangers. You would need to take the mastery of cold ki to an entirely new and unheard-of level. If my understanding of basic physics is accurate, that would mean that your entire body would be trying to freeze over at the temperatures that you'd be dropping to. You'd have to maintain extra tight control of the ki to compact it down even more so than if you were using hot ki, only letting it out in bursts of power before recompacting it."

"But that might mean that I could surpass the speeds I could reach with an equivalent of Kaioken," Ranma said with a grin.

King Kai snorted. "Kaioken-nothing! If this succeeds, you might not even need that little dance you mentioned to launch that tornado of yours."

Ranma nodded before sliding into a meditative stance and began focusing his attentions inwards. King Kai watched as the air around him began to take on a noticeably chill temperate. He quickly realized just what his pupil was doing. He was already starting to meditate on cold ki. Nodding to himself, King Kai turned and refocused his own attention back to once again supervise Goku's training while contemplating and marveling at just how interesting both his pupils were turning out to be.

* * *

 **Out in space**

The silence in the two pods as they shot through space was broken only by a few low noises. The soft sounds of various buttons and monitors that lined the sides and front of the pod, the quiet snores of fitful slumber the two occupants made as they slept the journey away, the idle thrum of the engines as the computer systematically guided the pair towards their destination. Sounds that were soft enough to not disturb anyone who might've decided to doze off, as was their design.

Then a new sound buzzed loudly to life. A light blinked to life as the computer processed a new command and obediently sprayed the interiors of the pods with a soft gas to awaken the occupants. After a moment of that, the gas cleared and the interior lights of the pods flared to life. Even if the gas hadn't worked, the blindingly bright lights would've just as easily done the trick.

The sensation of being forcefully yanked from their blissful dreams of universal conquest, glory uncharted, and endless battle was a jarring experience, but one that they'd become accustomed to over their past thirty to forty years of service. Still, just because they were familiar with the sensation didn't make the proud Prince any less irritable as his consciousness came back to him.

Blinking open his eyes, Vegeta looked first out of the small window of the pod, searching for any telltale signs that they'd arrived at their destination. But all he saw was the usual black emptiness of space outside. Frowning, he looked down to the small computer monitor just below the window and saw that a new message had arrived. Scrolling through the message, his frown turned into an angry scowl of annoyance.

" _Hey, Vegeta, a bug planet!_ " Nappa called out over the radio, the eager grin obvious in his voice. If there was one thing that Nappa had truly come to love over these years in the Freeza Force, it was being able to squash all manner of bug-type lifeforms like the insects they were. "This should be amusing. Hahahah!"

Normally, Vegeta would've approved of this idea. Even if it wasn't an order from headquarters to clear the planet, or destroy if needed, he still would've relished the chance to take a pitstop and stretch his legs a bit. Long journeys like this were the worst and for such active creatures as Saiyans, even if they spent most of it asleep, it was borderline torture for them. However, this time, Vegeta had other things on his mind. "Nappa, we have more important things to worry about. There's a female Saiyan. That means this is a chance for us to restore our race."

" _But, Vegeta_ ," Even though he was speaking out against it, it was clear that Nappa was only doing it for propriety's sake. " _Lord Freeza wouldn't be happy if we ignored his orders_."

"To hell with Freeza!" Vegeta snapped. He hated the emperor something fierce, but he always made sure to keep his opinions to himself and never to verbally speak out against him. After all, the scouters were excellent as spying tools, especially on troops who might pose problems to the organization. But, right now, Vegeta just didn't care.

" _Are you sure, Vegeta?_ " Like before, there was no argument or censorship in Nappa's voice. He was merely saying what needed to be said.

"Of course, I'm sure, Nappa!" This was the first real chance at accomplishing something for his race in his life that Vegeta'd had ever been given. He wasn't going to let it slip away from him just because he got sidetracked by a job that most likely wasn't even worth his time! "This is more important than Freeza's directives. This could be a chance to resurrect our race."

" _Well, if you're sure, Vegeta. I can't deny that a female Saiyan isn't an attractive option_." The eager grin was clear in his voice. And although it was slightly nauseating to think of, the Prince could easily guess what the big elite's thoughts were in that moment. Especially since the Prince was also having similar thoughts of himself and this mystery female producing dozens of whelps to repopulate the Saiyan race with. And the best part, in his mind, was that thanks to his own superior genetics being the backbone of this new Saiyan race, the coming generations would be even more powerful than the previous version had been!

"Exactly, Nappa! We will restore the Saiyan race and build our own empire which will bring us to _new glory!_ " Vegeta stated as he turned to the computer and inputted the commands needed to ignore the purge order and continue along their earlier course.

" _Unless Freeza destroys us all_ ," Nappa muttered quietly. Though he did his best to not be picked up over the radio, Vegeta still heard him. But the Prince ignored him nonetheless.

* * *

 **Freeza Planet 101**

"— _a female Saiyan. That means this is a chance for us to restore our race_ ," Vegeta said. The Prince's annoyance and frustration but also eagerness was clear to his ear as he listened in on the conversation. The scaly purple alien frowned at what he was hearing.

"So, that's your plan, eh, Vegeta?" Kui sneered. He couldn't help shaking his head in disgust at the idea of the arrogant Prince and his big brute making more Saiyan whelps. "Great, _more Saiyans_. That's the _last thing_ this galaxy needs!"

But even as he was saying that, a thought occurred to Kui. Something about this scenario rang a bell in his memory. Standing up abruptly from the dining table he'd been lounging at, Kui hurried over towards a nearby computer terminal set into the wall. After inputting his ID and access codes, he went to the Freeza Force mission database and called up all references towards the policy of dealing with Saiyans. And, sure enough, the last notification that featured on them was a standing order given by Lord Freeza himself only minutes after Planet Vegeta's destruction occurred. Smirking, a cackling laughter of dark delight erupted from Kui.

Quickly shutting down the terminal, he turned and raced for the landing pads. He had to move fast if he wanted to beat the Prince to that backwater world, or at least catch up to him. He was on a planet that was much closer than to that shithole than the one that Vegeta and Nappa had started on, so it shouldn't take him all that long to catch up...

No, wait… Yes, yes, it would actually be so much _sweeter_ if he fulfilled this mission _right in front of_ the arrogant Prince! Granted, he may get in trouble with the higher-ups for essentially stealing a spacepod like this, but he was sure that once word reached the big man himself, he'd be given all kinds of medals and awards of commendation, maybe even that promotion he was long-overdue for!

Kui's sinister cackle echoed loudly across the landing pad as he jumped into the nearest pod available.

* * *

 **September, Age 762  
Southern Wastelands**

Crashes and explosions echoed across the landscape as one side of a small mountain became cratered with landslides with wildfires springing to life. This was all the work of Ryoga and Piccolo as they tore at each other in an intense training session. Although the Namekian had started out stronger than the human-turned-Saiyan, that was no longer quite the case as Ryoga's strength had rapidly shot up to match his sparring partners. And though Piccolo was still slightly stronger, it was only by a small amount. The same could also be said for Raditz.

Speaking of Raditz, the long-haired Saiyan had figuratively drawn the short-end of the stick today. With Ryoga and Piccolo training together, it fell to him to deal with the whelps. At the moment, he was finding himself being triple-teamed by the toddlers who fought with a surprisingly high level of coordination with one another. Kouma and Hayato were actively rushing forward to attack him head-on with fists and feet. These two were quickly turning out to be true Saiyans in Raditz's mind. However, Gohan remained hesitant and scared, preferring to stay back and help his cousins with long-range fire. Raditz quietly admitted to himself that this was actually a smart tactic for them to use when facing a stronger opponent. But he was becoming increasingly disappointed in Gohan's lack of killer instinct.

"Scrapper and Alpha, you are superb in your techniques and teamwork," Raditz stated bluntly, using one hand to block each of the aforementioned boys' attacks easily. Suddenly, he lashed out, batting both boys aside in opposite directions. Now free of their harassment, he turned and sprinted for Gohan. Before his nephew could even react, Raditz stood before him, arms crossed and looming over him menacingly, causing the boy to freeze up in fear. "But, Runt, _you're lacking_."

Quick as a whip, he reached down and grabbed the boy by the front of his gi while explaining his opinion to the lad. "While your strategy is intelligent in combating a stronger opponent, you are the weak link in this chain, and the weakest link is always going to be the first to fall. You have no killer instinct. You cousins want me dead. _You_ , however? You're holding back. _Never_ do that!"

Spinning around slightly to add more force to his movement, Raditz hurled Gohan powerfully down into the ground. Gohan hit with enough force that he actually bounced up slightly, right into a kick from Raditz that sent him flying into a nearby rock formation. As the boy disappeared into a pile of rubble, Raditz turned and sent a single eye-glare towards Kouma and Hayato. That glare caused both boys to reflexively freeze up as well, both of them quickly realizing what was about to happen next. And Raditz confirmed this when he turned to face them fully with a sinister smirk on his face while asking. "So, what can you do now without your ranged support?"

It took a few moments for Gohan to recover from the impact and being buried under the rubble. But pain had become a recent companion of his and his cousins, so he was able to push through it relatively quickly. Bursting weakly from the rubble, he gasped out for air and hurriedly shook off the dust and debris that littered that gi. Once done, he looked over towards where his uncle and cousins were fighting and froze. He'd only been buried for a few moments, but already both of them were lying beaten and bloodied under Raditz's boots.

Hearing the sound of the rubble moving, Raditz turned his attention back to Gohan. Pointing accusingly at the boy, he harshly barked out, " _YOU_ are the reason they're _dead_. What will you do now?"

"I-I-I-I…" Gohan stuttered out, eyes wide and tearing up slightly as he took in the implications of Raditz's statement.

"Wrong! You're dead!" Raditz yelled while firing a Single Sunday into the rocks behind Gohan. Unprepared for such a quick resumption of combat, the explosion sent Gohan flying. Blitzing forward at high speed, Raditz caught Gohan out of the air by his gi front again, snarling out, "You need to attack with the _intention to kill_ , Gohan! I may be your uncle, but I _did_ help kill your father. Where's the _rage_ and _power_ you showed against me on that day?! Do you think the _other_ Saiyans will take you so lightly?!"

"But you're not trying to kill me," Gohan pointed out weakly. It was feeble and pointless defense, and he knew it. But it was also his reason for not feeling that terrible desire to kill him either.

"Of course I'm not trying to kill you," Raditz said, glaring disapprovingly at him. "You're no use to me dead. But do you think the other Saiyans will give you that courtesy?"

"I-I-I-I…"

Growling loudly, Raditz threw Gohan to the ground again, bouncing him and then punching him to the side. With a strangled cry of pain, Gohan went for a painful skidding slide across the hard, rocky ground. Once he finally came to stop, he rolled over and pushed himself weakly up. Hearing movement off to the side, Raditz looked over and saw the other two's growing anger. He was quick to bark out, " _Don't interfere!_ This is a lesson for _Gohan!_ "

Instantly, Raditz turned and rushed Gohan again, leading with his knee. A fierce melee of sorts ensued from there. Gohan would launch a few attacks that Raditz would easily dodge or block before retaliating with powerful blows of his own that would leave Gohan in pain and/or gasping for air. Raditz would then wait for Gohan to recollect himself and try another attack, only to have the whole process repeat itself again. During this 'melee,' Raditz began speaking again, "Prince Vegeta and Nappa will _not_ give you an easy out just because you're a Saiyan or family. If you do not submit to them, they _will_ kill you. Thus, your only option is to kill them _first_."

Finally tiring of the 'spar' with his nephew, Raditz grabbed the boy by his gi front yet again, shaking him slightly as he barked out. "You cannot _hesitate_ –!" He then kneed Gohan in the chest. "You cannot _falter_ –!" Still holding onto him, Raditz charged up another Single Sunday and fires it right past Gohan's head while looking Gohan dead in the eye. "You – _cannot_ – hold – _back!_ Otherwise, it will not be just _you_ that dies. It will be your _cousins_ , your _entire family_ , and your _world_ that will die."

Seeing the pained but wide-eyed look his nephew was giving him, Raditz decided that he must've gotten the message by now. Or he would, shortly. So, with that small success under his belt, he promptly let go of Gohan and allowed the boy to regain his footing. Sliding into a martial arts stance he'd seen Ryoga use numerous times, Raditz's sharp glare softened slightly. Now, it could almost be called as a friendly, challenging grin. This change in demeanor didn't go unnoticed by Gohan, who's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "So, show me what you can _really_ do, Gohan. Just you."

* * *

 **October 29, Age 762  
King Kai's world**

It would've been a rather comical sight if it weren't so deadly. A massive tornado that must've been easily 200 feet tall was spinning wildly, anchored to the small marble of a world. Grass, tree branches, dust and dirt, even a fully-grown tree or two, had been caught up in the ravaging maelstrom as it tore its way in a jagged line across one portion of the world, only _just_ missing the small structure that was King Kai's home.

Finally, after several long moments, the tornado stalled and stilled. The winds decreased and the maelstrom started petering out and dissipating. Just faintly visible through the dust and debris, two figures could be glimpsed falling limply to the ground, where they impacted with punishing force. Despite the pain and exhaustion they were feeling, two quiet laughs could be heard as the winds finally died down. As the dust cleared, the two figures were shown to be the Son brothers, lying side by side in the crater they'd made upon impact.

However, the brothers' levity was quickly drowned by the deity present. King Kai scrambled out of his partially damaged home and bolted over towards the duo. He was yelling at them every step of the way. " _NO!_ _ **NO!**_ _ **NO!**_ _YOU TWO_ _ **IDIOTS**_ _ALMOST DESTROYED MY_ _ **HOUSE!**_ "

Pushing themselves off their backs and into a seated position, the brothers just continued to chuckle to themselves. Goku shot Ranma a proud grin as he said, "That was…amazing! It actually worked…Ranma!"

Momentarily rejuvenated as his pride was lightly stoked by Goku's praise, Ranma shot an answering grin as he arrogantly proclaimed, " _ **OF COURSE**_ _IT WORKED! I'M THE_ _ **BEST!**_ "

"Yes, yes! It worked! It almost destroyed my house!" King Kai ranted furiously. Much to his dismay, neither of the brothers seemed to pay him much mind. Ranma was too busy wallowing in his perceived greatness and Goku was excitedly already trying to think up ways of countering the new technique that Ranma had been mastering these past few weeks. Growling in frustration, King Kai turned away from them with mumbling, "Fucking Saiyans!"

"Maybe you just need a bigger world, King Kai?" Goku offered helpfully, tearing his attention away from his own musings to try an appease their master.

"My world's big enough. Thank you!" King Kai snapped irritably. It was a sore point of his, but King Kai would rather die than admit that his planet's size was as large as he could safely make it. It needed an extremely dense and powerful core in order to contain the beings that were sealed within. If the planet was any bigger, that dense core would be drastically weakened, and thus allow a chance for—he'd rather not think about _that_ potential scenario, actually.

Sulking, King Kai decided that he needed a distraction to take his mind off the terrible destruction that had just occurred and the mess he'd now have to clean up in the near-future. Considering that these two had been making messes like this on his planet for the better part of four months now, the idea of checking to see just how much longer he'd have to put up with them had a lot of appeal. So, he channeled his ki into his antenna and stretched his awareness out into the area that was his domain. Locating Planet Earth was fairly easy for him now since he'd become rather well acquainted with its location. Then, he reached out his senses some more, seeking out the two powerful entities that had been traveling towards it for some time now. What he found instantly alarmed him.

" _GOKU! RANMA! GET MOVING!_ " King Kai yelled, spinning back to them frantically. His shout and the clear distress in his voice and posture immediately caught their attention as they pushed themselves back to their feet. But before they could question him, he continued, " _THE SAIYANS ARE ALMOST TO EARTH!_ "

"What?!" Ranma yelled in alarm.

"Already?!" Goku cried out, sharing his brother's concern.

"Get going! I'll tell your friends to revive you!" King Kai promised. He'd barely managed to turn his attention back towards Earth before he felt a powerful wind kick up around him as his two pupils shot up into the air and flew away as fast they could. ' _I just hope that you two will arrive in time!_ '

* * *

 **A few minutes later…**

The group of Master Roshi, Launch, Turtle, Oolong, and Puar watched as seven streaks of light shot off in separate directions, rapidly disappearing beyond the horizon. As the lights vanished, the darkened sky above brightened and returned to its usual blue color.

"There, it's done," Roshi said solemnly. He knew that the next few hours would likely be some of the most dangerous the world had seen since Piccolo Daimao's reign. And, just like that time before, all their hopes rested on a pair of heroes who likely would arrive late to the battle. "Now, all we can do is wait and hope."

* * *

Up in space, unnoticed by the naked eye, a pair of Saiyan spacepods had just entered Earth's atmosphere.

* * *

( **Tellemicus's Note** ) Sorry about the long wait. I probably could've gotten this out sooner, but I ran into a bit of writer's block and procrastinated something fierce. Sorry again. Still, the good news is that the next chapter is going to be all kinds of fun! I have to admit that it is one that I've been majorly looking forward to writing! Hopefully, you guys'll love it as much as I do!

( **Fiori's Note** ) So yeah for those of you who were worried about how close we stuck to canon a few chapters back? There was a reason for that. This has not just been a butterfly flapping its wings, but a full blow stampede of wild horses. The ripples are spreading and things are changing. One almost has to pity Akane for how useless her own read through of Dragon Ball is soon to prove. Buckle up cause next chapter's crazy

 **Power Levels:  
** Vegeta ( **age 29** ): 18,000  
Kui ( **age 23** ): 18,000  
Nappa ( **age 50** ): 5,000

Goku ( **age 25** ): 10,000  
Ranma ( **age 22** ): 10,000

Raditz ( **age 31** ): 4,800  
Ryoga ( **age 22** ) 4,800  
Piccolo ( **age 10** ): 4,700  
Shampoo ( **age 22** ): 4,400  
Cologne ( **physical age 41** ): 4,400

Gohan ( **age 5** ): 3,300  
Kouma ( **age 4** ): 3,250  
Hayato ( **age 4** ): 3,200

Tien Shinhan ( **age 29** ): 2,830  
Mousse ( **age 22** ): 2,670  
Krillin ( **age 25** ): 2,550  
Yamcha ( **age 29** ): 2,480  
Akane ( **age 22** ): 2,090

Yajirobe ( **age 27** ): 970  
Chichi ( **age 25** ): 350  
Ukyo ( **age 22** ): 320


	13. Poisoned Seeds

**.**

 **Son Ranma  
** Written By: _Tellemicus Sundance_  
Co-Authored by: _Fiori75_  
 _#13: Poisoned Seeds_

 **October 29, Age 762  
East City**

"I can't believe it," muttered a cameraman as he stood at the open door of a newscopter, pointing his camera down towards the barren wasteland that had once been a massive and thriving city.

Oh, there were still a few scattered remains visible poking out of the dusty, windswept surface like portions of broken signs, twisted steel-reinforced concrete that lined the foundations of various former skyscrapers, and even a rare vehicle here and there. But overall, it looked like something out of a post-apocalypse movie. The only thing marring the image were the numerous scientists, government forces, news crews and reporters from all nearby towns and cities, and whatever few survivors searching through the dust in hopes of finding any more survivors or clues to the destruction.

"It's reading a little hot," stated one scientist to another he held a radiation sensor over the charred and heat-dazed landscape. The residual heat of the initial explosion had wiped out the entire city still lingered in the area, helped in part by the sweltering heat of an unusually hot fall day. "But it's clean of radiation. This wasn't a nuke strike."

"As you can see, East City is gone," said one reporter as he read from the script in his hand, barely paying the camera any attention as he continued his spiel. "All that remains of this once-great city is a barren crater. How and why the city vanished earlier today remains a mystery!"

Nearby, a cluster of reporters and journalists were gathered around a dog police officer. "Inspector, any guesses yet, sir?"

"I'm afraid not," the dog said, shaking his head in denial. "At this point, we're completely baffled."

"Yeah? Well, I know what happened," a rough voice called from behind the group, earning their attentions. A short, fat man wearing a katana at his waist climbed out of the hovercar he'd just parked, looking around the area with an almost knowing gaze.

As the group were wondering to the identity of this fat stranger, something caught his eye and he ran off to the side to get a closer look. The canine inspector was fast to follow after the obvious civilian. The man came to a stop before a pair of large spheres that were half-buried in the dirt and debris. But what little could be seen of the spheres shown that there completely smooth with only pink-tinted glass covering one small area of them. Whatever those spheres were obviously caused the man to recoil in fear as he began mumbling to himself.

"Hey, you over there!" the inspector yelled from a short distance away, panting slightly from the effort it took him to try and keep up with the surprisingly fast and nimble fat man. Regardless of his exhaustion, the inspector's instincts were clamoring as his suspicions of this fat man skyrocketed. That man clearly knew something about what had happened here! "You had something to do with this, didn't you?!"

"Oh, yeah, right!" the fat man shot back dismissively. "Like _**I**_ can _destroy cities!_ " Then he turned back and began mumbling to himself again in a clearly agitated voice.

However, the inspector no had a target and he wasn't going to let it get away! The survivors, the people of the nation, the president, and the world were all clamoring for an explanation and someone to blame for this needless destruction. He'd sink his teeth into it and rip out its jugular until it was gasping for a mercy kill if that's what it took! That was the thought process that was going through his mind as he drew his pistol and cocked the hammer, aiming at the swordsman with a fierce glare. He easily ignored the slightly surprised, disturbed, and panicking journalists around him as he barked out, "You freeze, mister! You're going to tell me what you know!"

Turning to fully face the inspector, the fat man yelled out, "For the _last time, IT WASN'T ME_ , you dope! It was the _Saiyans!_ "

"The 'Saiyans'?" the inspector repeated, confused at the strange word. Was that some kind of special club or unknown terrorist group or what? "And just who are they?"

Gesturing to the two spheres behind him, the fat man said, "What do you think? They're aliens! Really scary aliens! And they're gonna blow up the world!" As he spoke, the fat man made various gestures to illustrate his points, particularly his fear of just how 'scary' these aliens were, before resolutely crossing his arms. "But me and my team? We're gonna try and stop them. See, we're like a secret task force that protects the Earth. Now do you get it?!"

The group just stared at him with blank looks for a moment. But then the inspector and two of the three journalists broke out into hysterical laughter. The fat man just stood resolute, letting their laughter wash over him as he glared behind him at the two spheres. He knew the truth and these lamebrains weren't going to humiliate him. And that lone journalist was able to pick up on that as the group slowly got over their amusement.

The dog holstered his pistol as he finally got his breath back. Okay, maybe his instincts were going haywire a little bit. This was an unusual situation, but he didn't need to jump upon the first suspicious person he saw. Whoever this fat lunatic was, he was clearly touched in the brain. Maybe part of some cult or was a superhero-wannabe? "Really, we're lucky, right? Listen, it's great that you want to 'save the world' but could you do it somewhere else? This is a restricted area!"

Behind the dog cop, the two laughing journalists shot amused glances at one another. "What a scoop, huh? You can have him!"

"Hahaha! No thanks!" the second one countered as all three of them turned and started walking away to try and find something more concrete and real to entertain themselves with. Maybe they might come across a survivor who had actually managed to witness the event that had caused this destruction?

"You think you're so smart?!" the fat man yelled back at them. Clearly, he was more upset that he wasn't believed than he'd first thought he was. "You're fools! And I can prove my story's true!"

Now that caught all of their attentions. He gestured over his shoulder towards the two spheres as he said, "You want 'proof'? Just take a look right there!"

"And just what am I supposed to be looking at?" the inspector demanded in a clearly dismissive but humoring tone. Maybe if he played along with this lunatic he'd go away faster?

"You moron! These things right here! They're spaceships, okay?!"

"SPACESHIPS?!" the group yelled, drawing the attentions of several others nearby.

"How do you know?" the inspector demanded. They looked just like regular, if weird, spheres of some kind. They couldn't possibly be spaceships…! Could they?

"Just come look!" the fat man snapped, quite annoyed now.

It only took a few moments for the inspector to call over some big-brained scientists and direct them towards the spheres. The fat man just crossed his arms knowingly as he waited for the verdict. The lone journalist who hadn't laughed at the swordsman was quick to scoot over to him and pull him aside, quickly offering a deal to get an exclusive for his story. Surprisingly, the swordsman only asked for a free meal in return. It was an offer that the journalist was all-too-happy to accept, _especially_ when the scientists announced a high probability that those spheres _actually were_ spaceships! After all, paying for a meal for a single man would be chump change compared to the money he'd get when this story went live!

Sadly for the journalist, he hadn't moved fast enough. A growing crowd of reporters and journalists, led by the inspector dog, gathered around the fat man as they all began clamoring and yelling offers for information. Even the dog threw in his own wallet for the info.

After a large bundle of money had been collected to pay the fat man, he crossed his arms and closed his eyes as a look of intense concentration crossed his face. After a long moment, he suddenly pointed in a very specific direction. "There! About 3,000 miles that way! That's where the Saiyans are right now."

The media folk were fast to turn and begin making plans to race to the specified location. The fat man looked down happily at his bundle of cash before his gaze hardened and he shot the group a warning stare. "Hey, if you're smart, you'd take my advice: don't go anywhere near those Saiyans! Those two will be a living nightmare."

He might as well have been talking to brick wall for all the attention the group were giving him now. Not even the dog was listening as he began barking out orders to his officers to pack up and follow him. Yajirobe just sighed in exasperation at their stupidity before once again smiling down at the cash he'd stashed into his gi. "Idiots. Still, time to go chow down! …Although, maybe I should first go and try to help the others fight the Saiyans?"

He didn't know how much help he could offer to the group, especially since he was easily the weakest fighter of the group. Heck, even Chichi and Ukyo could beat him on an offday! He looked up into the sky, searchingly, hoping for an answer to miraculously pop up for him.

* * *

 **Southern Wastelands**

"So, they've finally arrived," Piccolo growled, looking into sky towards where he could sense the two behemoths rapidly flying towards them.

"They're a little earlier than I expected," Raditz admitted, a serious grimace on his face as he sensed the heavy weight that was his former Prince's ki press down on him. Even from this distance, the stark difference in power between was staggering.

"Yeah," Ryoga agreed as he securely tied his bandana into place. "That one guy sure doesn't care about hiding his power, does he? Although the other one isn't nearly as strong as I'd have thought he'd be."

"Don't let that fool you," Piccolo grunted. "He may not be as strong, but he's likely far more experienced than any of us."

"Hey!" Hayato called out happily from where the boys were hurriedly redressing behind some nearby boulders. The three of them had been in the midst of their morning swim and bath when they'd sensed the Saiyans arrival. Joyfully pulling on his boots as Hayato stumbled out from his hiding spot, the young boy smiled happily as he stared off in a different direction. "That's Mommy and Momma! They're coming! They're really coming!"

"Yeah! I feel them too!" Gohan agreed, shaking out the excess water from his long and shaggy hair. "And they're bringing friends with them!"

True to Gohan's observation, not even ten seconds later, a large group of fighters dropped from the sky around their group. The three boys immediately shot forward to embrace their mothers, who returned their embrace with an almost frenzied gusto. After the initial hug, Ukyo pulled back and started shuffling about with Hayato's tattered and filthy gi, searching for any injuries he might have sustained while peppering him with questions. Questions about what type of training he'd undergone, where they'd be all this time, how long they had to endure Piccolo's bad attitude, when Raditz and Ryoga showed up, and if he wanted to go home or stay and fight. Shampoo was crying freely and openly as she grasped Kouma's face and just stared at him for a long moment, trying to once again memorize the shape and expressions of his face while lovingly running a hand through his hair. She didn't try to ask any questions, figuring that they could wait for when the battle was over. Plus, she knew her son would never want to miss what could possibly be a big fight in the making, he took strongly after her in that regard. Although Chichi was busy lecturing Gohan about worrying her and how she promised to never let an evil alien or demon or anyone try to take him from her again, she was also searching for even the slightest scratch or bruise on him. Whenever she found something she didn't like, her hands immediately glowed with ki as she began hurriedly but carefully healing her long-lost son. Gohan was more than happy to accept her coddling, having been bereft of it for a year, while giving out reassurances that he and his cousins were all okay which Chichi barely heard over her own mounting hysterics.

As the three boys were reuniting with their worried mothers, Raditz, Ryoga, and Piccolo all turned to face the rest of the gang that had arrived with them. Ryoga had immediately ran forward and pulled Akane into a tender and loving hug, which she happily reciprocated while showering his face with needy kisses. Just a moment, the rest of the world fell away from them as they shared a long overdue moment together. The atmosphere was so lovey-dovey around that floating hearts, flowers, and dancing rainbows wouldn't have been at all out of place. Needless to say, the rest of the others resolutely ignored the reunited lovers out of awkward embarrassment, confusion, or just simple annoyance.

Among those who were blatantly ignoring the two lovers were Raditz and Piccolo as they were confronted by cautious glares from Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu. Cologne and Mousse stood off to the side, watching the reunions with varying expressions. Mousse was busy glaring pure, unadulterated hate and fury at the small boy that the love of his life was embracing. He could all too easily and clearly see the mixture of his beloved's and enemy's features within the child and instantly knowing exactly who and what that _creature_ was. And he also knew exactly what he would do if he had even the smallest chance.

On the other hand, Cologne walked to Ryoga and loudly cleared her thought, breaking the moment as she earned the duo's attention. After reluctantly drawing apart, Cologne fixed Ryoga with a steady stare as she loudly asked, "Can we trust Piccolo and Raditz?"

"We can trust them as far as Chiaotzu can throw them," Ryoga stated simply. The rest of the team of new arrivals nodded in understanding. They could trust them but should still keep a close watch on them.

The team watched closely as the pair of their former (and current?) enemies stood off to the side, making no aggressive moves. Raditz was studying each of the team with an interested gaze while Piccolo had returned his attention back to the sky and the approaching Saiyans.

" _What is HE doing here?!_ " Akane demanded hotly, jabbing her finger angrily at Raditz while also sliding into an automatic stance and preparing to attack. To say that she was blazing with a fiery fury wasn't all that surprising to the Nerimans, but to see her doing so towards someone who _wasn't_ Ranma was surprising.

"Calm yourself, Tendo," Cologne ordered, glancing at the girl with a sharp eye. "We've already discussed this. That Saiyan is on our side for now."

" _By why is he even ALIVE at all?!_ " Akane snapped, not backing down in the slightest. " _He should've been killed a year ago!_ " ' _The manga was_ _ **very clear!**_ _Raditz was supposed to have_ _ **DIED**_ _along with Goku by Piccolo's technique! What's going on here?!_ '

"Quiet, girly!" Raditz snapped, shooting a brief glare at her. "We've got more important things to worry about right now."

"He's right," Piccolo added before Akane could start yelling again. Despite his calm voice, his body was visibly trembling with sweat starting to slide down his brow. "They're here."

"Raditz, I'm impressed! You've actually gone and _exceeded_ my expectations!" a loud and unfamiliar voice called from the skies above them. Looking upwards, the group spotted a pair of armored figures floating complacently with cocky smirks on their faces. The shorter of the duo with wild, spiky hair was the one that had spoken. "I expected you to only get one of the whelps, _maybe_ two. But you've assembled all _three_ of them, as well as the _female!_ "

Throughout his monologue, the Prince had been shooting a conniving leer at Cologne. He saw that the strange blue hair color of the one whelp was the same shade as what Cologne had, so the family resemblance was quite strong between the two. Though Saiyan hair was usually almost always black as the default color, there were certain strands of genetic sequences that could beat out the black and allow a different color to take root. But such things were very rare and were usually limited to direct family lines that would soon revert to black in a generation or two. Granted, the second female with a similar hair color did throw him off for a moment, especially since she also looked very strongly like the elder female. Still, he felt sure of his conclusions.

"Don't give me that look, young man! You don't even compare to my husband!" Cologne barked out sharply.

As they dropped to the ground several paces away from the large group, Vegeta's smirk slowly slid off his face while he began looking more closely between Cologne to Shampoo. If he was reading this right, and he was pretty sure he was, and then adding in the blue-haired whelp into the mix, the Prince could tell he was seeing much more than a family resemblance began the trio. This resemblance kickstarted his thought processes again. Perhaps his hopeful thought that his parents (or maybe even grandparents, given the likely age of the elder woman) had had the idea of secretly populating the world as an emergency failsafe in case their race was wiped out was more correct than he'd initially hoped?

"My apologies, Vegeta," Raditz spoke up, forgoing using the stronger Saiyan's title for the first time ever. "They're not here because of me. They're here because of _you_."

"That's _Prince_ Vegeta, Raditz!" Nappa barked, angry at the disrespect towards his monarch.

"That remains to be seen," Shampoo said bluntly, shooting the duo an unimpressed gaze with her arms folded disdainfully. "He's no Prince of ours."

"What?! I am the Prince of _All_ Saiyans!" Vegeta snarled. "Including _most especially_ all of you!"

"Oh yeah? Well, I don't _acknowledge_ you as my prince," Ryoga agreed from where he stepped forward to stand next to Shampoo.

Vegeta and Nappa both recoiled back half a step, as though struck by a powerful blow. They stared wide eyed at the young man for a brief moment, searching for any sign that he was telling the truth or was just trying to deceive them. And while he, like the rest of the group (minus the whelps) lacked a tail, the Saiyan traits were strong in his appearance. Wild, spiky black hair that was being somewhat held in check by the bandana he wore, a smooth and well-muscled physique that held clear power, and the utter lack of fear when facing down those that were clearly his superior. All were traits that any proud and true Saiyan could boast of!

"Another Saiyan?!" Nappa gasped in understandable confusion.

' _Is this_ _ **truly**_ _a Saiyan colony?!_ ' Vegeta muttered quietly as he continued staring closely at Ryoga. Raising his voice so he could be heard by all, he asked, "Tell me, just how many Saiyans are _on_ this planet?!"

Raditz smirked arrogantly. "Wouldn't you like to know, _Prince_."

"Hmm, well, it doesn't matter," Vegeta said, putting the matter out his mind for now. He needed to assert his dominance here, _and quickly!_ " _All_ shall bow before me! Nappa, show them what a true _Saiyan Elite_ can do!"

"Ehhh, there's quite a few of them," Nappa observed, reservation clear in his voice. He'd been quietly scanning the group throughout the conversation and was finding himself somewhat unsettled by all of the rather surprisingly high power levels arrayed before them. Even if he was still twice as strong as most of them, it would be a simple tactic for them to just wear him down from sheer numbers before moving in for the kill. Plus, all of the strongest among them were uncomfortably close to his level of power, which made him falling in a war of attrition even more likely.

"Hm, good point, Nappa," Vegeta agreed, understanding the elder Saiyan's point, even if he personally wasn't nearly as at risk. "Plant the Saibamen. Let's see who's _really_ a Saiyan."

Chuckling slightly as he reached into the small pouch he kept concealed under his armor, Nappa withdrew a small bottle that held a small collection of seeds and a few drops of liquid. Even with just a glance, he could tell that there weren't nearly enough to take all of the fighters. But there were still plenty enough to thin out their ranks if things devolved into a fight, as they were strongly starting to look like.

"Careful, earthlings," Raditz said lowly, glaring as he watched Nappa squat down and start planting and watering a half dozen seeds. "Those things that are about to emerge are suicide bombers with a sadistic streak almost as bad as a jigmor."

"..." Everyone stared blankly at their reluctant ally.

"What?" he asked, irritated.

"What the hell's a 'jigmor'?" Yamcha asked, voicing the question of the others.

" _THAT'S NOT THE POINT,_ _ **IDIOT!**_ " Raditz roared.

The crumbling of earth and a series of screeching laughter and unearthly chittering drew the fighters' attentions. All of them gawked in horror, surprise, or disgust as small monsters that somewhat resembled beetles grew out of the dirt like some kind of ugly plants. Almost on instinct, the chittering creatures formed a line between the two Saiyans and the fighters with bloodthirsty sneers and deranged gazes in their glowing red eyes.

"A true Saiyan would be able to defeat any single Saibamen in one on one combat," Vegeta stated with a superior smirk on his face, enjoying the expressions he could see on the weaklings before him. "We'll see who's _really_ worthy of the title 'Saiyan.'"

Marshalling his courage and plastering a confident grin on his face, Yamcha stepped forward as he smacked his fist into his hand. "Ha! I might not be a Saiyan, but I bet I can _still_ take it out!"

One of the Saibamen stepped forward with a vicious smirk across it's green, demented face, cackling lightly in anticipation. Settling into a fighting stance, Yamcha shot it a confident grin. In the blink of an eye, both fighters vanished in a burst of superspeed. Numerous clashes and thuds of impact echoed across the landscape as the duo fought savagely. But it became clear within moments just who was the superior fighter. For every blow the green monster landed, Yamcha got in two. For every dodge it made, Yamcha danced around. The clear difference in their strengths was apparent to everyone, most especially the two fighters. And the longer this fight, the wider the grin on Yamcha's grew.

Knocking the monster away with a seemingly-casual backhand, Yamcha hopped back a few paces before grabbing his right wrist. His hand lit up with energy as the green monster recovered its footing. But it stopped itself from attacking upon seeing the ki gathering into five small balls hovering over Yamcha's outstretched fingers. Seeing the monster's slightly fearful expression, Yamcha called out, "This was a little surprise I was hoping to save for my rematch with Ranma. But you seem like pretty good Guinea pig to test it out on!" His raised his hand over his head as the five ki balls solidified into something a bit more stable.

"Heh, I haven't seen a move like that in some time," Nappa muttered quietly to Vegeta, having easily recognized just what kind of trick the fighter was using. Truth be told, he wasn't all that happy with how this match was likely to turn out. He rather liked the Saibamen. But given the creatures' disposition and most fighters' typical responses to such aggression, there was only one way this fight would end.

"Hmm, this could be fun," Vegeta said, a small grin of amusement growing across his face. This fight was proving even more entertaining than he'd first thought it'd be.

After several moments, the Saibaman's aggression won out against its caution of the strange technique it was facing off against. With a loud cry, it lunged forward towards Yamcha.

"Ju Yubi Sokidan!" Yamcha declared as he brought his hand down and launched all five balls at the creature at once.

Seeing them rushing it, the creature gave a half-hearted jump to dodge where it predicted they'd be heading towards. But just as the balls were nearing and about to pass it, they suddenly split and scattered in five different directions. Surprised, the Saibaman was barely able to catch his footing, eyes darting everywhere as it struggled to keep the randomly moving ki balls within its field of vision. But this proved immensely difficult given just how fast, small, and wildly evasive they all were.

Seeing his opponent perplexed by his technique as the ki balls encircled it, Yamcha grinned as he went in for the kill. One after another, the five balls began slamming into the Saibaman, staggering and throwing it about. The creature began to grow increasing angry as literal steam started rising from it as its expression changed to one of pure rage. Finally, all five balls converged at once from different angles and positions, leaving the Saibaman no chance to escape unscathed. Upon impact, all five balls exploded in bright flashes of power. After several long moments, the smoke and dust of the explosions cleared and revealed the creature lying prone in a small crater.

Turning to face the Saiyans, Yamcha put on a brave face to hide the exhaustion he was feeling. He was still rather new to this technique and it took a lot of his power and concentration to use it as smoothly as he just did. He was very lucky that the creature had been more worried about the ki attack than just attacking him directly. If it had, his ki attack would've puttered out as he lost the needed concentration to maintain it in order to defend himself. But no need to advertise that weakness to their… Were they their enemies, really?

Putting that thought aside for now, Yamcha shot the pair a cocky grin. "Well, that's one down and it was pretty weak to boot. I hope that's not the _best_ you guys brought with you or this'll be over _real_ quick."

"I'd call this fight a draw," Vegeta stated, his arms crossed as he gave the human a knowing look.

"Why's that?" Yamcha asked before he heard a rustle of movement behind him. Turning around, he found himself locked into a bear-hug by the Saibaman he'd been fighting. "Shit! It wasn't dead?!" That was all he managed to get out before the creature suddenly flared it's ki mightily, glowing slightly, before it erupted into a powerful explosion. Yamcha's cries were abruptly cut off in the blast.

The Dragon Team could only stare in surprise and horror at the attack, all having felt Yamcha's life force fade away in the heart of the explosion.

Akane couldn't help the terrible feeling of guilt that settled upon her. She had known that Saibaman would likely try that dirty trick once it was overpowered. But Yamcha had been doing so well! So much better than what she thought he'd been able to in the manga that she had honestly thought he'd won the match! Now, she was going to have to tell Kasumi that she'd let her fiancée die when she could've done something to stop it! ' _Dammit! Dammit!_ _ **DAMMIT!**_ _I'm sorry, Yamcha! I should've_ _ **known better**_ _than to assume things would be different!_ '

On the other end of the spectrum, Raditz rubbed his temple in mild irritation. "I tried to warn him."

"I can see why my parents colonized this planet," Vegeta said quietly, mostly speaking to himself. "To force a Saibaman to self-destruct so quickly into a fight. These Earthlings are more capable than I thought."

"What do you mean, Vegeta?" Nappa asked, having slightly heard his prince's mumblings.

Vegeta gestured towards the group with a complacent wave of his hand. "Those three fighters, the two females, and the beta male. They don't _claim_ to be Saiyans. But this world… Perhaps my parents had more foresight than I thought." Shaking his head to clear it of the hopeful but distracting thoughts and ideas he was getting, Vegeta called out "In the next fight, only an _Earthling_ may fight. If anyone interferes, I will destroy you on the spot!"

Snorting in annoyance at the proud prince's declaration, Piccolo stepped forward in a blatant disrespectful disregard of his enemy's 'request'. However, before he could face off against one of the remaining Saibamen, Vegeta shot a small but very fast finger beam over the green fighter's shoulder, just missing his ear. Glaring angrily, Vegeta yelled, " _NOT YOU, NAMEKIAN!_ I said an _EARTHLING!_ "

"I'll go!" Mousse said as he moved forward, uncaringly brushing past an irate and snarling Piccolo.

"Don't worry, Mr. Piccolo," Gohan offered consolingly. "I'm sure you'll get your chance to kick his butt soon enough!"

Piccolo gave the runt a small glance but said nothing as he calmed himself down and stepped back to watch the next match.

Meanwhile, Mousse stopped and stood before his Saibaman opponent. Unlike most other fighters, he didn't fall into a fighting stance. Instead, he stood at seeming ease with his arms crossed over his chest and his hands hidden within his voluminous sleeves. Whether by chance or design, the sunlight gleamed off his glasses in such a way as to hide his eyes from the group before him. Combined with his blank facial expression, he made for a rather imposing figure to the Saibaman, which was standing in a very cautious defensive stance. It had learned from it's fallen comrade that these fighters arrayed before were different from the usual rabble they fought. These fighters were strong and should be fought with care.

After a few long moments of a silent standoff, Mousse's expression changed to that of a scowl a split second before he leapt into action. But rather than charge his small enemy, he leapt high into the air while raising his arms over his head. The Saibaman tried to track his movement, but the blinding sunlight quickly distracted it momentarily. Seeing this moment of weakness, Mousse acted, bringing his arms downwards in a mighty sweep. Blasting out of his sleeves at tremendous speeds came a seeming cloud of thousands of weapons. Arrows, knives, shuriken, kunai, swords of every kind, spears, axes, hammers, simple boulders and rocks, and many other types of assorted junk, even something as silly and otherwise benign as a kitchen sink, were in that horde. It was so densely concentrated that the weaponry actually blotted out the sun over the Saibaman, who gawked in understandable surprise and disbelief at what was coming towards it.

But then the Saibaman broke out in howling, chittering laughter as it raised its arms and launched a series of ki blasts upwards. The ki blasts impacted with the oncoming weaponry and exploded, blowing the massive cloud of deadly shrapnel apart and clearing a large opening overhead. The thousands of weapons went flying off in every direction but left the center completely untouched. The Saibaman chittered louder in arrogant laughter, expecting to see a surprised and/or angry expression on his opponent overhead. But the sky was clear of any fighter.

"Your eyes are slow," a soft voice whispered just a few paces in front of it. "Too bad."

Sensing a burst of movement rushing towards it, the Saibaman dodged to the side while bringing its claws down in a guarding stance. This quick response saved it from being chopped to pieces as Mousse reappeared slightly behind it, now wielding a pair of dao sabers. As Mousse was trying to regain his footing and face his opponent, the Saibaman lunged for his exposed side and back, claws gleaming menacingly in the sunlight. Despite his superior strength and speed, Mousse found himself on the defense, having to use the flats of the sabers to deflect and block the Saibaman's swipes and stabs.

The reason for his caution was quite understandable. He'd already seen the volatile nature of these creatures and didn't want to get caught in the clutches of this specimen if it decided to mimic the suicide attack of its brethren. He'd been hoping to end this fight with that surprise attack, but now he was on the ropes with no other forthcoming plan or tactic besides just defending and hoping for an opening. His situation only became more dire when the Saibaman was able to catch ahold of one of his sabers and wrenched from his grasp, throwing it aside.

In the split second it did that and was preparing to attack his exposed side, Mousse finally saw it and jumped upon with all his speed and strength. He blurred out of existence momentarily as the Saibaman made its lunge for him, already cawing in victory. The next second found the two opponents sliding to a halt several paces away from one another. Mousse stumbled slightly as a portion of his white robe under his right arm fluttered away in the breeze, exposing a trio of badly bleeding gashes along his side. Despite the wound and his pained expression, he still held his dao saber in a tight grip as his stance quickly stabilized and held firm. Behind him, the Saibaman just stared off into the distance with its expression of cackling madness shifting into a blank look of confusion. Then, the Saibaman's head rolled off its body, which fell to the ground atop it. Moments later, its body finally registered the fact that it had died and triggered its self-destruction, blowing away the creature.

Sliding his dao back into his sleeve while grasping his bleeding side with one arm, Mousse stared coolly at the surprised and amused expressions that the Saiyans wore. Surprising everyone, Vegeta gave the male Amazon a nod of approval. "One more Earthling, but _not you_ , weaponsmith."

Nodding his in acceptance, Mousse turned and walked back to the group without a word. As he approached, his eyes naturally gravitated to Shampoo, hoping to see approval, affection, or even surprise on her lovely face. But he was sorely disappointed when he saw that she was gazing off to the side, having a quiet conversation with Ryoga and Akane. She hadn't even watched his match!

" _ **WOW!**_ " a young and excited voice cheered. It was that _creature_ , gazing up at him with eyes sparkling from excitement and youthful innocence. " _That was AWESOME_ , weapons-dude! You just went _whoosh! Slash! BOOM! You're so COOL!_ "

Despite himself, Mousse stumbled slightly, gazing down at Kouma with an expression of honest surprise. How could the spawn of Saotome possibly be this…friendly? Maybe it was a bit of his mother that was showing through? But then Mousse's expression hardened as he remembered just who this boy was a child of. Raising his chin slightly, he walked past the child to take up a spot near but slightly behind Shampoo, ignoring the creature who was now talking excited to his half-brother about Mousse's match. Mousse's quiet contempt and obvious hatred of Kouma didn't go unnoticed. He could literally feel Cologne's heavy gaze weighing down on his shoulders every step of the way. Much to his great relief, it didn't take long for Chichi to approach him and gently hold her softly glowing hands over his wound. But thanks to them standing behind the majority of the group, this act of healing went unnoticed by the two hostile Saiyans across from them.

Meanwhile, Vegeta glanced between Akane, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Krillin. Raising his hand, he pointed towards them. "Eenie, menie, minnie, you!"

"Uh-Uh, me?!" Krillin asked, pointing at himself with a slightly intimidated expression on his face.

"Yes, you, bald one!"

Despite moaning slightly at the unfairness of the situation, the Turtle fighter still stepped forward as his own opponent approached him. Unlike the cautious second one, this Saibaman was cackling wildly with excitement, flexing its long and sharp claws in anticipation. Firming his resolve and forcefully setting his fear aside, Krillin settled into a stance. This time it was the Saibaman to move first, lunging for him with a wild cry. The pair of them momentarily vanished from sight, dashing about at superspeed as they exchanged explosive blows.

Just like with Yamcha, once he was able to get going and start landing blows, Krillin's fear and hesitation truly started getting replaced with confidence. They had trained so hard for this?! Yes, these creatures were strong and fearsome, but they weren't strong enough. However, Krillin didn't fall for the same trap that Yamcha did. After landing a series of gut punches to the armored abdomen of the Saibaman, Krillin bounced back as he formed a large disc of ki over one palm and hurled it at the Saibaman. "Kienzan!"

The alien plant monster was still trying to get its breath back after the gut punches, thus it didn't really notice the approaching attack until it was far too late to dodge. The disc neatly bisected the alien in two pieces from groin to crown, it's expression frozen in a state of pained shock as the two halves fell in different directions before exploding.

Landing lightly on the ground with a sigh of relief, a small grin crossed Krillin's face. "Alright! It actually worked! I wasn't too sure if it would."

"Yes, yes!" Vegeta said, practically purring in delight at the show he was being given. The only thing better than watching a death match like these was participating in them. Seeing these fights, even if they were rather low-key compared to what he was used to, was starting to excite his Saiyan blood. But he forcefully pushed those feral desires aside as he kept focused on his theory and the mounting evidence he was being unknowingly given. "I can see why my parents decided to colonize this planet! Now, for the Saiyans! Let's see if you're actually worthy of the title!"

"Me! Me!" Kouma shouted, literally bouncing in place for a moment, waving his hand aloft. His enthusiasm caused Gohan to look away in embarrassment for his cousin while Hayato and Piccolo both palmed their faces in annoyance and Raditz and Ryoga just chuckled quietly.

"No! Kouma!" Shampoo barked, grabbing Kouma by the back of his gi as he tried to rush forward, pulling him back while ignoring the pout he shot at her over his shoulder. She would've berated him for rushing off like that but a sudden bullet of fast-moving ki blitzing over her shoulder silenced her and drew her attention to the Prince.

Lowering his outstretched hand that had fired off another finger beam, Vegeta shot the bitch a fierce glare. He had purposely missed her. "The whelp wants to fight. Let him!"

"I'll fight in my son's place!" Shampoo snapped back, overcoming her surprise and slight fear, shooting Vegeta a dark glare.

Vegeta raised a brow at that revelation. ' _So, they really_ _ **are**_ _a family unit. That must mean that they must've been here for at least three generations! Interesting_.' "You will fight _later_ , if you do not want me to destroy this world _this instant_."

"Don't worry, Mommy! I got this!" Kouma chirped up, slipping out of Shampoo's weakened and distracted grasp before Shampoo can say anything in retort.

Reaching up, Vegeta tapped his scouter to measure the whelp's power. ' _Hm, 1,250. Quite impressive for a Saiyan whelp of that age. I don't know what his birth level was, but he's already well on his way to becoming a Super Elite!_ '

Bouncing forward, Kouma settled into a stance that was strongly reminiscent of Raditz's preferred one while sending the approaching Saibaman an eager grin. The monster cackled loudly as it stared down at the fighter that was actually smaller than it, a very rare thing indeed. With loud cries, the two pint-sized fighters rushed forward and engaged in a savage brawl. The Saibaman predictably trying to use its claws to slash at the boy's eyes, cut out gaping holes in his torso and arms, and just generally trying to inflict as much pain on the boy as possible. However, Kouma was able to block, dodge, or deflect all of these attacks with relative ease, grinning wildly like the child he was.

"Hahahaha! Come on, plant man!" Kouma cheered. "You can do better than that, right?!"

Now starting to get frustrated by its lack of progress, the Saibaman snarled in return. Then it resumed its attack, trying pump as much speed into its movements as it could. Yet for as hard as it was trying, it did little to nothing to the young boy, who continued to match its speed, blow for blow. Standing off to the side, Vegeta blinked in surprise as he saw something that he hadn't expected. ' _What the?! The whelp's power is increasing! 1,800…! 2,500…! What's going on?!_ '

"HA!" Kouma yelled, uppercutting the monster mightily in the chin and sending it flying. Before the monster could recover itself, Kouma brought his hands to his forehead and gathered a large amount of golden ki into his palms before blasting a powerful beam upwards. "Masenkoha!" The Saibaman was completely blown apart in the blast. "Yeah! I did it! That was fun!"

' _That last attack was 3,250!_ ' Vegeta gawked in honest surprise. ' _He's almost as_ _ **Nappa**_ _! How's that_ _ **possible**_ _?! He's just a little_ _ **brat**_ _!_ ' Quickly schooling his expression, Vegeta put on a satisfied smirk as he said, "As expected of a Saiyan."

Still feeling elated at his victory, Kouma ran and gave his mother glomp while laughing loudly, "See? See! I won!"

Despite her worry for her son, Shampoo couldn't help smiling down at him as she embraced him. After she set him down, Ukyo shuffled over and ruffled the boy's hair in affectionate congratulations. "Good job, Kouma."

Speaking up, Vegeta gestured towards Shampoo beckoningly "You can fight now if you want to."

"No, I'll fight!" Cologne barked out, stepping forward before anyone else could speak.

Unlike the other fighters, she didn't step away from the group. Instead, she started gathering a large amount of ki into her hands. Before the Saibamen could react, she thrust her hands forward and unleashed her ki attack upon them. Curiously, instead of the traditional ki blasts or beams, what she sent flying was some type of formless white mass of energy. The mass enveloped both of the remaining Saibamen as rapid and surprising speeds. One of them had tried to dodge it while the other tried to swipe it away like a common blast. Instead, the mass stuck to their bodies like tar wherever it made contact. Vegeta and Nappa quickly jumped back and away out of its vicinity as they saw that some of the mass was still reaching out towards them.

Holding her hands out in a grasping position, as though she was physically restraining the Saibamen, Cologne shot the pair a dark sneer as she uttered out, "Joō Bakuhatsuha!" The ki mass flared brightly for a split second before it suddenly exploded in a violent burst of power. The Saibamen's surprised and distressed cries were cut off abruptly midway through the explosion. When the smoke cleared, nothing remained of the two monsters but flakes of charred flesh and armor.

Turning back to the two Saiyans, Cologne calmly crossed her arms behind her back while ignoring the gawking and slightly disturbed expressions of her companions around her. "Can we get on with this now?"

With a grin upon his face, Nappa stepped forward. "My turn, huh? So, how many of you are going to attack me at once?"

* * *

( **Author's Note** ) Well, crap. Sad to say, but I think my muse for this story has died down lately. Given the long update delays, I'm sure most of you have already noticed that. Part of that is simple procrastination on my part (which I'm very sorry about). Another reason is because I've recently gotten interested in _My Hero Academia,_ which sapped away from this story. And then there's the new trailer and alpha gameplay footage that's been recently released by that new _Star Wars_ game (Jedi: Fallen Order) that's steered my muse back towards Resurgence, which **Fiori75** and I have started working on again. We're probably going to either post a new rewrite or completely revamp what's already been posted on that story. Don't know just yet.

So, all that being the case, I'd decided to post what I'd managed to write before my muse dried up. Wanna know the sad part about all this? This chapter isn't even a third as far as I'd wanted it to! I originally wanted to cover as far as Goku and Ranma's return from their journey down Snake Way. Well, either way, I'm sure you guys enjoyed what I managed to get to. So, next chapter (whenever it comes out) is gonna feature Nappa's fights against the Dragon Team. Needless to say, things are going to get much more tense and there's most assuredly going to be even more deaths around this time!

* * *

 **Ki Attacks**

Sōkidan – Winding Energy Bullet – Spirit Ball  
Ju Yubi Sokidan – Ten Fingers Winding Energy Bullet – Ten Fingered Spirit Balls

Kienzan – Spirit Circle Cut – Destructo Disc

Joō Bakuhatsuha – Queen's Explosive Wave – Cologne's near-formless ki construct blast that unwraps the victim (usually the arms or leg) before exploding

* * *

 **Power Levels:  
** Vegeta ( **age 29** ): 18,000  
Kui ( **age 23** ): 18,000  
Nappa ( **age 50** ): 5,000

Goku ( **age 25** ): 10,000  
Ranma ( **age 22** ): 10,000  
Raditz ( **age 31** ): 4,800  
Ryoga ( **age 22** ) 4,800  
Piccolo ( **age 10** ): 4,700  
Shampoo ( **age 22** ): 4,400  
Cologne ( **physical age 41** ): 4,400

Gohan ( **age 5** ): 3,300  
Kouma ( **age 4** ): 3,250  
Hayato ( **age 4** ): 3,100

Tien Shinhan ( **age 29** ): 2,830  
Mousse ( **age 22** ): 2,670  
Krillin ( **age 25** ): 2,550  
Yamcha ( **age 29** ): 2,480  
Akane ( **age 22** ): 2,090  
Chiaotzu ( **age 24** ): 1,900

Saibamen x6 ( **age: irrelevant** ): 1,200

Yajirobe ( **age 27** ): 970  
Chichi ( **age 25** ): 350  
Ukyo ( **age 22** ): 320


	14. The Rampaging Cabbage, part 1

**.**

 **Son Ranma  
** Written By: _Tellemicus Sundance_  
Co-Authored by: _Fiori75_  
 _#14: The Rampaging Cabbage, Part 1_

 **October 29, Age 762  
Southern Wastelands**

With a grin upon his face, Nappa stepped forward. "My turn, huh? So, how many of you are going to attack me at once?"

"Quite confident in yourself, aren't you, young man?" Cologne shot back, meeting his grin challengingly.

"Alright, listen up!" Vegeta called out before Nappa could form a rebuke to the lady. "Only four of you are allowed to fight him at once."

"Don't worry, guys, we'll handle this," Tien stated, giving the large Saiyan a deadly glare. Chiaotzu quickly joined him, hovering at his side with a focused expression of his own. Stepping forward and smacking his fist into his palm, Ryoga grinned as his battle lust started surging through him. His excitement and yearning for a good fight had been steadily rising throughout all of the matches and he just couldn't stand aside and watch anymore! Although, he did give Akane a slightly worried glance as she stepped up beside him and joined the trio of fighters.

"Do you think you can handle this, Akane?" Ryoga asked quietly. But he quickly flinched back at the shadowed glare she shot at him. ' _Yeah, she's up for this_.' He could feel her strength. But he was still worried for her. Because even with this newfound strength, Nappa was still too much for her.

"Enough talk!" Nappa yelled as he charged forward. All four fighters quickly shot apart in different directions. Landing in a guarded position in the center of them, Nappa grinned evilly at them. "So, you four are my opponents, huh? This is gonna be fun! Especially yoooou!" he pointed at Ryoga. "I'm looking forward to what these Earth Saiyans can do!"

With another yell, he suddenly spun and charged at Tien shouting, "But let's clear away the chaff first!" His arm cocked out and slammed into Tien's throat and upper torso in a lariat. The triclops had been caught off guard. For all that he'd been expecting a battle, he'd honestly expected his opponent to follow through with his words and attack Ryoga first. He'd been prepared to dash forward to attack Nappa's flank, not protect himself from an attack.

As Tien went flying back into the distance, Nappa was already spinning to face off against Akane. But before he had a chance to lunge, a bright blue aura suddenly surrounded his body. "Wh-What is this?!" Nappa roared as he realized that his body was frozen in place. It took just a moment before he recognized the type of energy attacking him. ' _There are psychics on this world too?! What the heck kind of world is this? Psychics, Namekians, Saiyan colony! Next thing they'll tell me is that there's fucking magic on this world!_ '

That was as far as his silent contemplations could go before he was distracted by twin cries of exertion. He looked up to see Ryoga and Akane both firing powerful ki blasts at him. Ryoga's blasts were…familiar, considering they looked and felt like Raditz's on impact. It was the girl's however that were interesting. Ki attacks usually punched. They were physically blunt attacks. Sure, they occasionally exploded but they were still blunt force attacks. Occasionally, they pierced, like Freeza's death beams being the most well-known. This girl's attack, however, _**it burned!**_ The ki was _hot_. It was in his face. _And IT WAS BLINDING HIM!_ "GRAAHHH! YOU BITCH!"

After feeling the psychic energy around him dissipate during the attacks, he immediately charged forward towards where he'd seen the girl last. Of course, it was too much to hope that she'd stay still and let him punch her. But he was somewhat surprised when he did feel some physical resistance. A fist hit him in the solar plexus with the force of a battering ram. Nappa decided to respond back with the force of a wrecking ball. He noticed that he'd impacted someone but they didn't go flying back like they should've.

It was in those moments as he was waiting for the lingering burning sensation to fade that he realized he might actually have been brawling with the Saiyan instead. But that thought quickly ended when something new happened. _The bitch set his tail on fire!_ It was…new. He could deal with these weaklings trying to _grab_ his tail. None of them could possibly squeeze it as hard as Vegeta could in his rage. He might be in trouble if Raditz got a hold of his tail. He was slightly stronger now, but not too much of a threat. Blunt force trauma to his tail was something he was familiar with. But fire _wasn't_. It attacked a completely different set of nerves that he'd never had to deal with before. Worse, the longer it burned, the more of his tail caught fire! She'd only been able put the front half of his tail on fire, the portion around his waist. But the longer it burned, the more of it caught and the deeper into his fur it burned. Before long it'd be all over for his tail and it would be _**agonizing**_.

Nappa made a choice then. Better three seconds of discomfort than three minutes of agony. Simultaneously jumping back from his opponents, he reached back and grabbed his tail by the base and _pulled_. To his credit, Nappa didn't make a sound of pain as he grimly pulled his tail off. As the lingering flames finally cleared from his eyes, he glared over at the girl. Dark blue hair, blue eyes, and an angry but smirking visage as she watched the culmination of her efforts. "Your name, girl?"

At first, she expressed confusion. "What?"

"Your name!" Nappa snapped back, his face cold and grim. "Tell me your name!"

"Tendo Akane," she replied. "Why do you wanna know?"

"Because five minutes from now," Nappa stated with absolute certainty in his voice. "I'm gonna _respect_ you. But now? I'm just gonna _punch ya_ til ya die."

Just as he finished saying that, a fist suddenly buried into his spleen. And this fist was far larger and hit much harder. Nappa slid a short distance across the ground, cradling slightly as he glared over at the perpetrator. Predictably, it was Ryoga. "You'll have to go through me first!"

"If that's what it takes!" Nappa roared back as he turned and prepared to charge for his fellow Saiyan, fist cocked back. "Before we get started, what's your name, Saiyan? I'm Nappa."

"My name's _Hibiki Ryoga!_ " Ryoga answered heatedly. "And you won't let a hand on Akane!"

"Oh really?" Nappa asked, a savage grin lighting up his face. " _Make me!_ " With a loud cry, he charged forward at his best speed.

With a roar of his own, Ryoga rushed forward to meet Nappa head on. In a clash of displaced air, both Saiyans collided with one another, catching the other's attacking fist with their own. For a moment, the two of them stood firm, pressing against one another in a bout of raw physical strength. Nappa definitely had the size over Ryoga, but the smaller Saiyan wasn't budging an inch as both their arms shook from the effort they were making to overpower the other. Then, Ryoga suddenly broke off, jumping and spinning a strong kick for Nappa's face. The bulky Saiyan showed remarkable speed and dexterity by being able to dodge under the sweeping kick. He instantly lunged forward with an uppercut for Ryoga's back. However, Ryoga was continuing his spinning attack. As his attacking leg descended back to the ground, his other leg came up in a sweep of its own that could've also been an attack. However, that leg managed to catch Nappa's rising uppercut and knocked it to the side, knocking him slightly off balance as Ryoga landed heavily upon the ground.

This moment of attack, defense, counter, counter-counter continued as such for several long minutes. It was just long enough for Nappa to get a good bead on this Saiyan's fighting style. He figured he had the kid's number by this point. So, he decided to try and change things up. Any minute now, the kid would come charging forward with another attack. And true to form, the kid did with a large right straight. It was aimed to break through his guard and punch his chest, no doubt. ' _So, why not let it?_ ' he thought to himself with savage grin.

Just as he expected, the right straight came barreling in. But this time, Nappa purposely didn't move his arms quite fast enough to fully block the blow. The punch penetrated through his guard and was instantly heading for his chest. But just as the punch was set to land, Nappa bounced backwards slightly. This minor movement was more than enough to cause what could've been a very painful blow to be much more bearable. And the force of the blow allowed him to disengage more easily. As he was flying backwards, he quickly gathered a massive amount of ki in his hand. With a loud cry, he hurled it at the still-charging Ryoga. The blast struck the kid full on in the chest and ignited in a powerful explosion. Enough of an explosion that it would've given most others pause for concern for the kid's wellbeing.

Nappa expected several things to occur though. He'd expected the kid to at least _try_ to avoid the energy's path. Failing that, he'd expected to see a look of surprise on the kid's face. Not steely determination as he tanked a massive amount of ki to the face. Nappa was expecting to see the smoking corpse of the kid on the ground after the smoke had cleared. But he was never given the chance to fully relax as charging out of the smoke at high speed came Ryoga. His gi top was blown apart, leaving him bare-chested with minor burns but he was otherwise still fighting fit. Nappa only had enough time to gawk in surprise before Ryoga's cocked fist landed in his gut, sending him flying backwards uncontrollably this time.

"Ryoga, stay back!" Chiaotzu yelled from the side as his body started glowing again in preparation for another psychic attack.

" _No!_ " Ryoga yelled back as he started rushing forward again. "I'm having _too much fun!_ "

" _Ryoga!_ " Akane yelled out in frustration, her face visibly darkening. This was _exactly_ what she'd been kind of afraid of. Saiyans wagering the fate of the fucking planet on death matches! She expected it from Goku, in the future from Vegeta, maybe even from Ranma considering how much like a Saiyan he actually was. She _hadn't_ expected to deal with the problem from her _boyfriend!_

For perhaps the first real time in several years, Ryoga completely ignored Akane's yell. He rushed for Nappa with a wide grin on his face, fists cocked back for the resumption of the fight. Akane could only stand in shocked horror at seeing Ryoga ignore her so blatantly for several long moments. But then her temper started to rise. As stated, she'd been expecting to deal with Saiyan shit from the _actual_ Saiyans. She hadn't thought that her boyfriend could be so stupid! She knew he was a fight-happy, stubborn idiot _but this wasn't the time!_ This was _four on one!_ They had _numbers!_ They could _win_ if they actually fought _smart!_ And if they won, then _less people_ would've _died_. And she _thought_ that her boyfriend would've _understood_ that! He was from Nerima! There was _tons of times_ where they'd _teamed up_ to fight a _stronger foe!_ _HOW WAS THIS ANY DIFFERENT!_ _This was the_ _FATE OF THE WORLD!_ Not a grudge match against a hated rival! But trust a fucking _Saiyan_ to confuse the two!

Her rage boiling well past the safety limit, Akane finally lashed out. She leapt into the air as a massive hammer engulfed in flames formed in her grip. " _ **RYOGA! YOU JERK!**_ "

That was all the warning that the two brawling Saiyans had to look upwards and see the flaming end of the mallet as it came descending down upon them both at _very_ impressive speeds.

"Oh shit," Ryoga uttered in horror, realizing far too late the danger.

"What's that?" Nappa asked in a blissful ignorance that ended soon after.

 _KKRRMMM_ _ **SSHHHHHH!**_ The massive mallet slammed into both of them with quite literal earthshaking force.

Off to the side, Vegeta couldn't help quirking an eyebrow as he literally felt the impact vibrating through the earth. After the din of impact settled, Vegeta turned towards Cologne and asked, "Woman, are you _sure_ she's not a Saiyan?"

"She is not part of _my_ tribe," Cologne answered adroitly, relishing in Vegeta's visibly deepening confusion. Not part of her 'tribe'? Just how _large_ was the Saiyan presence on this planet?!

Meanwhile, in the impact crater, Nappa just lay where he landed near Ryoga. Neither of them truly was hurt from the blow that Akane had just delivered to them, it was more the shock of it happening that left them laid out afterwards. In his mind was a massive conflict of interest. On one hand, this woman was beautiful, aggressive, violent, completely willing to attack an ally to get to her enemy, and altogether she was powerful in her own right. Their children would've been _**beautiful**_ by Saiyan standards! But on the other hand, she'd desecrated his tail. So, he really, really, _really,_ _ **really, REALLY**_ needed to kill her! This would be a bittersweet memory.

"Killing her is going to be the _hardest thing_ I've _ever enjoyed_ ," he mumbled quietly to himself.

"What the _fuck_ does that mean?!" Ryoga demanded hotly from nearby, taking offense for his girlfriend's sake.

"She's _perfect_ by Saiyan standards!" Nappa hissed back. "You _know_ that! Unfortunately, she ripped my tail off. So, I _gotta_ kill her for that."

" _You're_ _ **not**_ _killing_ _ **my**_ _girlfriend!_ "

"Oh, so, she's…taken then?" Nappa asked, lifting his head to look at Ryoga's seething expression. "That makes killing her…easier?" Despite his anger, Ryoga did pick up on Nappa's regretful and questioning tone.

Nappa quickly jumped back to his feet, Ryoga following soon after, and turned to glare at Akane's still-seething form. Just as Nappa was about to call out to the girl, he felt a small impact on the back of his armor. "Wh-What the? What's that?"

"I got him, Tien!" a small voice cried out from behind him. It was Chiaotzu on his back! "Get ready!"

"Get ready for _what?!_ " Ryoga demanded.

" _ **KIKOHO!**_ " Tien yelled from above.

Nappa and Ryoga both looked skywards to see a massive pillar of golden light descending upon them. Ryoga instantly leapt for safety and Nappa tried to follow him. But all he managed to do was turn his body to more fully face the blast. He noticed too late that the little psychic was controlling his body again.

" _ **DAMN YOU!**_ " he yelled just as the blast crashed into him.

The blast slammed into Nappa full force. But it didn't hurt him nearly as much as he'd expected. Honestly, the blasts from Akane and Ryoga were much more painful. Huh, apparently, the triclops really was the chaff since the littlest bugger was doing something more useful by being able to actually restrain him. If they'd coordinated that blast with Ryoga, this attack might've actually been more effective. Still, he didn't need to advertise that to the chaff just yet. Instead, he decided to play with his prey. After the blast died down, he went limp, dropping to his knees, and slumped forward towards the ground slightly. He could feel the psychic aura around him fade as the little bugger on his back loosened his grip, figuratively and literally. Just as Nappa needed.

With a savage grin, he suddenly spun around. With his grip weakened, Chiaotzu was unable to prevent the large Saiyan was turning and getting a hold of him. Crying out in fear, Chiaotzu could do nothing as Nappa continued his spin and hurled him bodily up into the air. He briefly heard Tien cry out his name just before a powerful impact struck him head on, followed by Tien's much closer voice groaning in pain. Opening his eyes, Chiaotzu realized he'd been thrown into his friend.

"HAAA!" Nappa yelled as he launched a massive ki beam straight at the duo. They were unable to do anything more than scream before the beam struck and exploded spectacularly. Once the smoke cleared, there was no bodies left to fall to the earth. Both of them had been disintegrated.

Akane lets out a cry of fury as she rushes forward to engage Nappa, Ryoga close on her heels. Turning, Nappa catches Akane's fist and jerks her to the side, intercepting Ryoga's charge and causing the other Saiyan to jump back to avoid hitting his girlfriend. As Akane stumbled to get her footing, Nappa snapped out a kick to her side, sending her crashing into Ryoga. "Here's a teaching moment for you, kid. The real reason Saiyans fight alone. Sure, maybe in theory, a pack of weaklings can take out a big threat like me. But in practice, you all just trip over each other. And then you die! HAAA!"

Nappa finished his lecture by snapping his hands out and blasting a massive wave of ki towards the fast-recovering duo. Akane saw what was coming more quickly than Ryoga and instinct took over. She grabbed Ryoga by the back of his gi and shoved with all her might, sending him bouncing across the landscape before she or anyone could fully comprehend what she'd just done. By that time, all she could do was just stare into the blinding glare of the ki attack as it engulfed her. A look of resigned acceptance written across her face before she vanished from sight. There was no scream from Akane as she disappeared into the flare.

Silence settled across the battlefield as the explosion died down and the smoke and dust slowly cleared. As it did, a charred figure became visible, lying on the ground motionless. Dead.

"AKANE!" Ryoga screamed as he finally caught sight of her lifeless body.

"Ahhhh," Nappa heavily sighed. "I really wish I didn't have to kill her. But when you step out into the battlefield, things like gender and physical attraction stop mattering so much."

"YOU BASTARD!" Ryoga yelled as he leapt forward to attack in a blind rage.

"The hell you screaming about, kid?" Nappa asked casually as he watched Ryoga charge. "I gave her a respectful death." Before Ryoga could answer, Nappa had already dodged his mindless punch and buried his own fist in Ryoga's stomach. "She stepped out onto the battlefield. She knew the risks. So, why are you disrespecting her?"

"BECAUSE—YOU KILL—ED HER!" Ryoga gasped out around his gagging after Nappa extracted his hand and stepped back.

"Of course I did," Nappa said in slight confusion. "It would've been rude if I held back."

As this was going on, the other fighters present were getting anxious. Shampoo, Cologne, Piccolo, and Raditz all shared glances at one another. All of them were trying to nonverbally ask one another if it was the right time to jump in and help their companion.

"If you're thinking about interfering with this fight," Vegeta called over. "I would advise against that. I'll kill anyone who tries!"

In his mind, Mousse was actually strongly considering risking the threat of death. Ryoga had been an occasional companion of his back in Nerima. It was not a close bond, but it was one of mutual antagonistic hatred towards a shared foe, which more often than not pitted them one on one against Saotome. They'd had each other's backs as frequently as they'd fought against one another. That was the essence of what it had meant to be one of the Nerima Wrecking Crew. And, right now, one of them was mad with grief over the loss of a loved one and he was going to get himself killed. But at the same time, this Prince of Saiyans that stood against them seemed like a truly unparalleled foe that could happily and instantly carry out his threat. So, Mousse's sense of self-preservation was in conflict with his sense of camaraderie.

Before a decision could be made by the Amazon warrior, a loud shout from Ryoga caught his attention. Ryoga had leapt a few paces back with his arms back as he charged a powerful pair of golden ki blasts in his palms. "DOUBLE SUNDAY!"

"Raditz's move?" Nappa said to himself as he let the blast consume him. Before the explosion even had a chance to die down, the big Saiyan was already charging out of the smoke and landed a powerful right straight into the exhausted and drained Ryoga. "Sorry, kid." Nappa said softly as he watched Ryoga slip unconscious off his fist and fall at his feet. "She really was one hell of a woman."

"A good effort but a wasted one." Vegeta stated with a snide grin on his face. "A pity about his mate. But an obvious conclusion when trying to breed out of the species."

Nappa shot one last look of sympathy towards Ryoga before he leaned and looked closely at him, "Still alive, kid?"

"Uggghhh," Ryoga groaned out in his unconscious state.

"Well, would you look at that, Vegeta! He's still breathing!"

"Hm, maybe he is a Saiyan," Vegeta muttered quietly to himself.

After seeing Ryoga now was still alive, Nappa casual dug his foot under the younger man's body and kicked him towards the Dragon Team again. As Ryoga's body came to a sliding halt before them, Ukyo rushed up to Ryoga, pulling him aside and trying to use her ki to heal him. The sight of the strange ki aura that surrounded Ryoga at that moment caught Vegeta and Nappa surprise. It took only a moment before they realized just what the woman was doing. The sight of one of the bruises fading had easily clued them into what was happening.

"Very clever," Vegeta mumbled to himself as he shot a new, appraising look at the group. It was always smart to bring some form of first aid to the battlefield. But healing pods took time and were difficult to transport. _This_ was something new. Immediate trauma treatment through the application of energy. It would be a very useful trick to pick up, especially if it could be self-applied. Ohhh, the power gains he could get from such techniques!

But as Vegeta was contemplating the merits of healing, Cologne had stepped forward. With an eyebrow quirked, she asked, "You're not going to kill him?"

"Why would I kill him?" Nappa asked in honest confusion. "He survived. You should know that. You're a Saiyan too, right?"

"Indeed," Cologne said in a dismissive tone. "But where I'm from, we generally don't leave enemies alive."

"Grannie!" Chichi hissed out in a harsh whisper that conveyed anger. "Don't encourage the bloodthirsty marauder!"

"Bloodthirsty?" Nappa asked in bemusement. "I'm not _trying_ to kill any of you… Well, okay, I was trying to kill Akane, but that was on principle. The other two were just too weak to survive. They couldn't even take a halfhearted, no-name energy blast. If they'd have survived, I'd have let them."

"I wouldn't have," Vegeta piped up in a menacing tone. His sudden insertion to the conversation drew everyone's attention. Which suited him just fine as he turned his attention to Raditz. "Raditz, if you kill the Namekian and the bald man, bring the women and the whelps over here, I will consider forgetting this little rebellion."

"Forget it, Vegeta! I know you! You're gonna kill me regardless of anything I do now!"

"Hohohoho! What with your recent attempts at assisted suicide, I'd almost forgotten the low-class warrior has a brain! After all, this is easily the _stupidest thing_ you've ever done. Did you think you could actually _win?_ What even happens once one of you actually _beats_ Nappa?"

" _ **IF!**_ Vegeta!" Nappa cut in angrily.

"Yes," Vegeta corrected. "When one of you manages to wear him down enough to win and _maybe_ fight me. You do realize that I'm three times as powerful as Nappa."

"We'll destroy that bridge when we get to it," Piccolo called out with a fierce glare.

"Mr. Piccolo," Gohan quietly uttered. "I think you messed up that saying. It's supposed to be—"

"I know what I said, Runt," Piccolo interrupted with an annoyed grimace.

"Neeerd," Nappa muttered quietly.

"Shut up!" Hayato yelled as he and Kouma suddenly rushed forward. "No one gets to talk about Runt like that but us!"

"Guys!" Gohan whined as he raced after them.

"Gohan/Hayato/Kouma!" the three mothers all yelled simultaneously as their children engaged the monstrous brute.

"Well-well-well, the whelps want a whalloping!" Nappa sang out as he cockily cracked his knuckles, not even assuming a stance. "You three know that I'm not going to be holding back, right?"

"Of course not!" Kouma shot back as they neared him. "You're mean but not rude!"

"Hohoho!" Nappa chuckled as he crouched down and caught Kouma's approaching kick. "You three think you're warrior caste already, eh?"

"We don't think!" Hayato yelled as he dropped down from overhead, hands raised over his head. "We know!"

Nappa just grinned as he idly raised his elbow that was also holding Kouma in place, taking the blow from Hayato double-hammer attack. "You got spunk, kids. But come back after you've murdered a world or two!"

"How about if we _save_ a world or two?" Gohan cried out from behind Nappa, his hands cupped on his forehead charging Masenko. "Starting with _this one!_ _Masenko!_ "

The golden beam crashed into Nappa's exposed back with a thunderous boom. The impact and surprise caused him to release his grip on Kouma and let Hayato retreat from his failed attack. Stumbling forward, Nappa bit back a minor grimace of pain. Despite the armor taking the blast, that force of it was still considerable.

"Dammit, how strong as these brats?" he muttered as he reached up to click on his scouter. Turning, he managed to catch Kouma's punch. For just a split second, he held onto the boy's fist as his scouter calculated. ' _3,200?!_ ' Just as Kouma was reaching out to launch a pointblank blast in his face, Nappa spun to the side and threw the boy towards Gohan. ' _Kid's midclass and hasn't even reached his first growth spurt! He'll be a high-class by the time he's full grown. Hell, maybe even an elite!_ '

Simply by the merit of him facing that direction, Nappa's next reading was on Gohan as he struggled to regain his footing and pry himself away form the also-struggling Kouma. ' _3,300? Why's_ _ **he**_ _stronger than the_ _ **cocky**_ _one?_ '

"Don't ignore me!" Hayato yells as he attacked Nappa's back. Those seemed to work after all. However, in this case, Nappa somehow managed to duck under his flying kick. And due to the angle, he had ensured that the third boy had accidentally managed to land in among his troupe. His sudden arrival caused Gohan and Kouma to once again land in a tangle of limbs, causing the big brute to start chuckling at his handiwork.

' _Annnd, 3,100_ ,' Nappa read with a frown on his face. ' _Why is the nerd the strongest of them?_ ' He couldn't resist reaching to scratch his bald head in contemplation. "As I told the last group, trying to team up might _seem_ like a good idea. But all you do is trip over yourselves."

The boys were able to somehow find their footing a bit quicker this time. Nappa just shot them an indulgent grin as he settled into a wide stance. "Ready for Round 2?"

Suddenly a pair of strong green arms entered his field of vision. Before he had a chance to react, he found himself pinned in a Full Nelson once again. "Oh, we're more than ready," the Namekian hissed in his ear. "The question is: are you?"

"What the?" Nappa cried out in surprise before glaring over at Vegeta. "Vegeta! Why did you let the Namekian join in?!"

"It's groups of _four_ versus you," Vegeta answered blandly, clearly unconcerned with Nappa's plight. "Remember, Nappa?"

"That was with the other group!" Nappa shot back.

"I don't remember changing the rules," Vegeta countered. Then a smirk crossed his face as he said, "You better pay attention though."

Nappa was about to question what he meant when he heard one voice say the dreaded words, "Get him!"

He only had time to look back towards the boys as they all rushed him together. Kouma and Hayato leapt up and launched the most powerful straights they could towards both sides of his collar bones. Nappa could only brace himself as their blows landed. Thankfully, while painful, they weren't debilitating. The third blow, however… The nerd also apparently decided that cheap shots were fair game. While the other two had gone high, he stayed low, hidden in the shadows of their bodies. His blow landed right on Nappa's genitals. The blow landed with such force that Nappa felt himself throw up slightly. There was actual bile in his mouth. His eyes had widened incredibly as his body froze up momentarily. In that split moment of recoil, the three boys bounced back and away.

Off to the side, Raditz couldn't help but wince in sympathy for his old compatriot. And he silently thanked every Kaio, God of Destruction, and Angel in existence that the three of them didn't have that level of coordination when he had been in that exact situation a year ago. He probably would've died then.

For several long moments, Piccolo's unyielding grip on Nappa was the only reason the big Saiyan didn't collapse face-first into a ball on the dirt. "Yoooouuuu…! Yooouuuu…fuuuuckiiiiing…braaaaats!"

The three boys just stared at the slightly crippled Nappa. Then Kouma turned towards Gohan with an aghast look on his face. "You cheated."

"We were supposed to go for the crotch together!" Hayato added, sending a pout towards his cousin.

"B-But you two had his chest already!" Gohan pointed out.

"Yeah, and you were supposed to go for the solar…thingy," Kouma said.

"It's solar plexus," Gohan corrected helpfully.

"Nerd," both brothers uttered together.

It was at this moment that loud growling became audible from Nappa. "You…You think _you BRATS ARE **FUNNY?!**_ "

The three boys looked at each other in a moment of silent conversation. Then all three turned to face Nappa and said, "Oh, we're _hilarious!_ "

A massive surge of power and aura erupted out of Nappa, nearly freeing him from Piccolo's grip. "You aren't anything! YOU'RE DEAD! RAAAARRGGHH!"

A massive golden beam of ki shot out of Nappa's mouth towards the boys. All three recoiled in honest surprise at seeing him able to still attack and from the sheer potency of the attack. All of them knew that they couldn't stop this beam, even together. But just as the beam was nearly upon them, a large, bulky, and hairy figure suddenly appeared before them. The blast erupted into a loud explosion of sound as Raditz held it at bay with his bare hands. Muscles straining, Raditz let out a might roar of his own as he slowly but surely began to compress and compact the energy beam into a smaller and smaller ball. Then, with an mighty shout, he exerted all his strength and crushed the ball into little harmless sparks.

Doing his best to not show the heaviness of his breath, Raditz threw back his head and started laughing hysterically and loudly. As the smoke and debris clear, Raditz laughed out even more as he spotted Nappa and Vegeta's surprised expressions. "HAHAHA! Is that the _best_ you can do, Nappa?!" Though he'd spoken in teasing mockery and jubilant joy, internally Raditz was sweating heavily while thinking, ' _Oh, thank Sadala that worked! But, I gotta thank Ryoga for the Breaking Point training. I am not dead! That means I can win._ '

In a fit of confusion, Nappa reached up around Piccolo's arm and tapped his scouter because he couldn't comprehend how and why Raditz was still alive after a blast that big. "4,800! Impossible! But you're just a _low-class!_ How the _hell_ did you get so strong?!"

Raditz smirked arrogantly as he says, "Pushups, sit-ups, and plenty of juice."

"You! You're _mocking_ me!"

"Real easy to do after you just got punched in the dick by a toddler."

Roaring in fury, Nappa _tries_ to charge forward. However, Piccolo still held him captive. Smugness was thick in his voice as he snidely asked, "Did you forget that _I'm_ still here?"

Nappa glares back at Piccolo as his scouter picks his level. "You too?! 4,700?! What do they feed you people on this planet? You only have 1g gravity! HOW THE HELL ARE YOU ALL SO STRONG?!"

Meanwhile, Kouma was charging up a blast while Hayato was continuing to send a pouting glare at Gohan. Gohan was blushing uncontrollably in embarrassment, especially when he noticed Nappa's angry stare. "I'm—I'm sorry about that, Mr. Nappa! But they taught me to go for the sweet spots when fighting a bigger opponent."

"Sweet spots?" Nappa repeated, a look of bafflement on his face.

"Well, you'd already ripped off your tail and it was the next most sensitive thing on your body," Gohan explained.

Nappa, Piccolo, and Raditz all just stared at Gohan.

"And it's at eye level, so it was really easy to aim for," Gohan continued. "And—"

Hayato sighed loudly as he covers Gohan's mouth, "Gohan, stop."

"HAAAA!" Kouma yells as he suddenly launches his ki blast at the distracted Saiyan. Piccolo tries to jump away as the blast closes in. But Nappa suddenly jerked his arms down and pinned the Namekian's arms under his own. Then he twisted to the side and let Kouma's blast hit Piccolo instead. Piccolo yelled in pain as his back was scorched. Nappa temporarily released Piccolo, only to grab his wrists, twisting and kicking him in the stomach. The Namekian's body went flying but his arms remained in Nappa's grasp.

' _I'll save these for later_ ,' Nappa thought to himself as he dropped the meat to the ground. With a battle-hungry grin on his face, Nappa turned towards Raditz. "I'm gonna have **_fun_** reminding you of your place, _low-class_."

 ** _"If_** you've got what it takes, _high-class!_ " Raditz shot back.

* * *

( **Tellemicus's Note** ) It's baaaaaack! It's aliiiiiiive! Man, I had a lot of fun writing this with **Fiori75**! And I hope all of you will have enjoyed reading it! I can promise that the next chapter is going to be even more fun and funny! Hopefully, it won't take _nearly_ as long to post as this one did. And be sure to check out our new omake down below! I had a serious blast writing that one up! You can thank **Fiori75** for thinking that one up!

* * *

( **Fiori75's Note** ) Originally, we were going to make this one big chapter. But going forward, we'd realized that would've been monstrous. Plus, this has already sat for long enough and we figured that we should already give you guys some content. So, tell us how you enjoyed this chapter. Did you enjoy the fights? Did you enjoy Nappa in this? We're trying to make the Saiyans basically space Vikings. Did we succeed? That's all for now. See you in the next chapter. That's where family reunions will occur.

And one last thing: Honey, I'm Just Saiyan…

* * *

 **Omake** : True Stories of History  
 _How Ryoga Told Akane How He was a Saiyan_

 **April 18, Age 758**

Ryoga had been putting off calling Akane long enough. Sure, for the most part, he had the decent excuse of not having service to be able to call her. For all that this world was technologically more advanced than his Earth, it had _**much**_ shittier cellphone coverage. Hell, most of the phones he found in this world were complete landlines! But now he had finally reached a semi-serviceable area. Of course, he had still kind of put off calling her on account of being starving after all.

But these past few days have been rather weird, which he assumed meant that Ranma had indeed made his wish. Which he supposed explained why he'd eaten that _entire_ T-Rex. All of it. Really. Usually when he'd kill a T-Rex, he'd just eat a few choice pieces of it and turned the rest of the tasty parts into jerky for later. Today, however, he'd just eaten the entire thing. He'd even sucked the very marrow from the bones. And he was _still_ hungry!

Thinking back on it, it was rather disturbing. He didn't remember if he'd actually _cooked_ it that much. He remembered that there's been a fire. Plus, he'd always had to make a bonfire for whenever he'd cooked a large dinosaur. But this one had been just a regular campfire!

"Enough of that thought!" Ryoga scolded himself, forcefully shaking the random and somewhat unsettling memories from his mind. He was here for a reason. He needed to call Akane. He'd promised. He was a good boyfriend like that. He would _not_ get jealous that she had made him promise to call her when he finally found Ranma. After all, Ranma was now with Ukyo…Shampoo…both? He wasn't sure. He just knew that Ranma was _not_ with Akane! That means that his relationship with her was _not_ under threat. He could _totally_ tell his girlfriend about her ex and _not_ be worried.

 _ **Totally!**_

…Yeah, he was scared.

Still, he had promised.

The phone had begun to ring. After less than two rings, it clicked and the voice of his angel filtered through. " _Ryoga? You called! Where are you? It's been two months!_ "

"Yeah, sorry!" Ryoga said softly. "I forget how big this place is sometimes."

" _Well, at least you're calling when you can_ ," Akane acknowledged endearingly.

"Yeah, about that," Ryoga said with a slightly heavy voice. "I've got s-something to tell you. Something I'd promised I'd tell you about whenever I ran into it."

" _You found one of the Dragon Balls?_ " Akane asked excitedly.

"No," Ryoga said bluntly.

" _You accidentally ran into Piccolo?_ " Akane guessed again.

"Uhh, you mean the Demon King guy, right?" Ryoga asked carefully.

" _Okay, that's a no_ ," Akane said in a relieved voice. " _Oh-oh! Are you calling from Kame House?_ "

"The place with the turtle? I can't get reception from there. It's out in the ocean after all."

" _You could've just asked Master Roshi to use his phone!_ "

"Wait, you know Master Roshi?"

" _Not important, Ryoga!_ " Akane deflected in a slightly nervous voice. " _You're calling about something important?_ "

"Yeah, I…ran into…Ranma," he said in a heavy voice. "Also, I think I'm a Saiyan now. You told me that those were important. Ranma and Saiyans."

" _ **You found Ranma?!**_ " Akane yelled in excitement. " _Where is—wait, Saiyans? What do you_ _ **mean**_ _you are a_ _ **Saiyan**_ _? Did I hear that right?_ _ **You are a Saiyan**_ _?!_ "

"Yes," Ryoga answered simply.

" _Bloodthirsty, space Vikings who grow stronger with every injury they recover from, that murder-hoboed their way across the stars before being wiped out. Those Saiyans?_ " Akane asked in a disturbingly familiar low and dangerous voice. " _You're saying you're one of_ _ **those**_ _Saiyans now? …_ _ **How?**_ _And, wait, what does Ranma have to do with you being a Saiyan? Why would you even lead with Ranma before telling you're a Saiyan?_ "

"Well, it sorta went like this," Ryoga began. "I found Ranma and he told me about his quest for the Dragon Balls."

" _He wanted to lift his curse_ ," Akane guessed.

"No, he already did that," Ryoga said. "It's also why I lost my curse."

" _Okay, that makes sen—wait,_ _ **you**_ _were_ _ **cursed**_ _?!_ "

"Uhhh, not important!" Ryoga said, thick beads of sweat forming on his brow. "Anyway, he told me he wanted to be a Saiyan. Then he mentioned that I should become one too. Then he told me what they could do, and I agreed."

" _Okkaaaay_ ," Akane said slowly. " _But why does this make you think you're a Saiyan now? Did you grow a tail?_ "

"No, but I did kinda eat a whole T-Rex…possibly while only partially cooked."

"… _What?_ "

"Even the bone marrow," Ryoga continued. He knew he was rambling. But he was sensing the building storm and wished to delay it as long as possible. "Also, I'm still kind of hungry. Annnnd I think I see some things in the distance that might be food. Or _will be_ soon!"

" _ **Ryoga**_ ," Akane said in a slow, dark, dangerous voice. " _ **If you hang up that phone, we will**_ _ **never**_ _ **have sex again**_."

Ryoga paused for a very brief moment, honestly contemplating the merits of both paths that lay before him. On one side, sex with Akane was amazing on a spiritual level that had helped him find religion in worship of Akane's body. On the other side, he knew on a deeply primal and basic level that he was about to endure the single worst tongue-lashing that he was ever going to experience in all of his existence. For once, he _wasn't_ so joyously euphoric about being in Ranma's position as Akane's boyfriend because of Akane's temper. Now that he was the emotional other half of her, he'd come to realize he had to deal with her temper as well as her affection.

Before he could truly make up his mind on the choices before him, Akane spoke up again, " _So, let me get this straight. You and Ranma are Saiyans now_."

"Not just us," Ryoga cut in with a somewhat feeble attempt at dodging blame. "He was also talking about making Shampoo and Cologne Saiyans too."

"… _Ryoga, tell me there is no one else as a Saiyan_ ," Akane said. " _You did not also make Chichi and Bulma into Saiyans too, right?_ "

"Who are those people?" Ryoga asked.

" _Ryoga, is anyone else a Saiyan?_ "

"I don't know!" He was starting to panic now. "I didn't make the wish! Ranma did! He only talked about making himself, Shampoo, Cologne, and me into Saiyans!" His voice starting to crack and tremble as his panic started rising. "He said something about making himself to be Goku's real brother! And he offered it to me and I said 'yes' because it sounded cool! _**Please don't be mad!**_ " He was _literally_ on his knees begging as he gripped the phone to his ear now.

" _Four more_ ," Akane whispered lowly. " _There are four more Saiyans now… Ryoga, I love you. But you just made my life infinitely more complicated_."

"Does this mean that I'm sleeping on the couch next time I'm in West City?" he asked with a knowing tone.

" _No, Ryoga_ ," Akane said simply. " _We don't have the funds to feed a Saiyan. You won't be sleeping on the couch. You won't even be sleeping in the dojo. You're sleeping in the_ _ **park**_ _. In fact, you can even put that Saiyan appetite to good use and cure West City of its raccoon infestation. Also, if you want to even sleep in the house, you will tell what Jusenkyo curse you had. I have not forgotten about that part, dear_."

Ryoga was sweating uncontrollably. He couldn't lie to Akane. She would know instantly, he knew. "…So…Uh…What parks are available in West City near the dojo?"

 **Power Levels:  
** Vegeta ( **age 29** ): 18,000  
Kui ( **age 23** ): 18,000  
Nappa ( **age 50** ): 5,000

Goku ( **age 25** ): 10,000  
Ranma ( **age 22** ): 10,000  
Raditz ( **age 31** ): 4,800  
Ryoga ( **age 22** ) 4,800  
Piccolo ( **age 10** ): 4,700  
Shampoo ( **age 22** ): 4,400  
Cologne ( **physical age 41** ): 4,400

Gohan ( **age 5** ): 3,300  
Kouma ( **age 4** ): 3,250  
Hayato ( **age 4** ): 3,100

Tien Shinhan ( **age 29** ): 2,830  
Mousse ( **age 22** ): 2,670  
Akane ( **age 22** ): 2,590  
Krillin ( **age 25** ): 2,550  
Yamcha ( **age 29** ): 2,480  
Chiaotzu ( **age 24** ): 1,900

Yajirobe ( **age 27** ): 970  
Chichi ( **age 25** ): 350  
Ukyo ( **age 22** ): 320


	15. The Rampaging Cabbage, part 2

**.**

 **Son Ranma  
** Written By: _Tellemicus Sundance_  
Co-Authored by: _Fiori75_  
 _#15: The Rampaging Cabbage, Part 2_

Nappa charged Raditz, who met him head on and the two start brawling. After just a few exchanges of punches and kicks, Nappa quickly became thankful that his previous fight hadn't been so long. Especially since Ryoga was the kind of fighter that he had trouble with. He was almost as strong as himself, but he fought with learned technique and style to compliment his strength. It was a vicious combination that Nappa always had trouble against in the past. The only real reason he managed win against the boy was because of the other fighters getting in his way, breaking up the rhythm of the fight, and him using Ryoga's emotions over Akane's death to his advantage. If he'd fought the boy alone, who knows what would've happened?

Nappa winced as he blocked a kick aimed low. The blow itself didn't hurt, but it pulled on things that were already sore. ' _Dammit! Raditz's fighting style has completely changed! He's not just a brawler anymore! He fights like—like the kid! Wait, did the kid teach him?! But I thought the kid trained under him? The hell's wrong with this planet?!_ ' In a blue of motion, Nappa quickly ducked under a surprise energy blast launched almost pointblank. He'd almost expected a punch, only for Raditz to open his fist and unleash a powerful blast. ' _Questions for later. Survive now!_ '

Raditz smirked. Nappa was on the backfoot and they both knew it. "What's wrong, Nappa? I thought you were gonna put me in my place!"

He couldn't resist quipping with a dangerous smirk on his face. Ryoga had insisted on this type of fighting style. Always get into your opponent's head. And what do you know? It was working. Until now, Nappa had been on the backfoot, defending rather impressive despite his growing exhaustion. But now, with that small provocation, he was suddenly on the attacking and seeing red.

"YOU THINK YOU'RE SO MUCH BETTER JUST BECAUSE YOU SPENT A YEAR ON THIS BACKWATER PLANET?!" Nappa roared, spittle flying from his mouth. Nappa launched a series of fast and furious punches that were powerful enough to send air pressure shockwaves everywhere. But not a single blow landed as Raditz expertly weaved between each of the big Saiyan's large swings. "YOU'RE JUST A LOW-CLASS FLUKE WHO SURVIVED BY CHANCE! I'M A HIGH-CLASS! THE ROYAL CARETAKER OF THE PRINCE! YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS STRENGTH!"

Raditz's smirk grew into an outright grin as he stepped inward towards swinging Nappa and buried his fist in the big brute's gut. "I thank you for the compliment, Nappa. You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say those words."

"Arrggghh, whhhaaaat?" Nappa groaned in pain as he fumbled back a few steps.

"Thank you for acknowledging my strength," Raditz said in a soft, almost humble voice as he nodded in respect.

"You're…welcome…?" Nappa said with a look of clear confusion on his face.

Raditz's smile did not fade from his face as he nodded and cupped his hands together. A bright ball of ki formed between as he stated, "Now, die."

Off to the side, Vegeta had been watching the whole fight with a growing frown upon his face. Thought he didn't care one lick about Nappa's life, it was still somewhat surprising and disappointing to see him losing so badly to someone who had just a short while ago been such a weakling. Though, he supposed there was something. Raditz did have something of an interesting lineage. He was the son of Bardock, one of the very few low-class who'd risen to the high-class before Planet Vegeta's destruction. Perhaps Raditz could possibly do the same. So, he supposed he could forgive Nappa of this loss, especially since he'd been fighting for quite a while now.

At that thought, he glanced quickly over towards where the woman was still healing the unconscious Ryoga. Already every single wound from the battle was gone. The boy was merely sleeping now. Quietly, Vegeta touched his scouter and read the sleeping boy's power level. ' _5,600, eh? He really is a Saiyan_ ,' Vegeta thought with a flat look crossing his face. ' _Which must mean that the others who claimed to be Saiyans truly are, despite their lack of tails_.' This confirmation made his realize that his earlier suspicions about there being a potential Saiyan colony here must be true. He wondered how long they'd been here. ' _Thoughts for later. But that healing… Just how extensive is it? It certainly has healed him but just how fighting fit is he? If he can return to battle, that type of healing is priceless. If I can learn for myself… I need to see it in action again._ '

And it was this thought that propelled his next move.

Seeing Raditz launching his Single Sunday attack, Vegeta bolted forward and slid to a halt in front of Nappa before anyone noticed his movement. With just a casual flick of his wrist, he sent the beam attack careening off past the horizon. Once the distant explosion had dissipated, Vegeta smirked as he said, "Congratulations, you really _have_ improved, Midclass Raditz. Still, it's not enough to beat _me_."

Raditz couldn't help grinding his teeth in fury at Vegeta's casual insult. But he knew better than to try and provoke him. He was still _much_ stronger than Raditz.

The remaining Dragon Team all recoiled in surprise at Vegeta's show of strength to varying degrees. It was one thing to know that the short one was so much stronger than all of them. But was another thing to see their best fighter's attack get stopped so easily. Vegeta's uniform isn't even scratched!

"Oh shiiiiit," Krillin gasped out in barely suppressed panic. "Guys, I don't think we're gonna win this."

"What gave you _that_ idea?" Piccolo snapped.

"Arguing amongst ourselves won't do anything about it. We're just going to have to hold out." Cologne barked out.

"Hold out for what?" Vegeta asked, a condescending smirk crossing his face. "Your best fighters are only a third of my strength and you think there's something on this planet that can give you hope? What is it?" Clicking his scouter on, Vegeta started scanning for any more powers than the ones that were presently in front of him. Seeing the scattered high powers, he began saying, "It can't be any of those individuals, they don't even break 300. Hm…It definitely can't be that puny 200 that's approaching us right now. It can't be that cluster of 100s over there. They barely scratch 20,000 altogether. It can't be the amassing army of insects in that direction. There's not even a single real fighter amongst them and their primitive weapons just tickle us. So, who? Who is it that's giving you all hope? Tell me, so I can take it away."

"My husband and brother-in-law! That's who, you little shrimp!" Chichi barked out challengingly.

"Oh? And, where are they? I don't see anyone with a power level that could challenge us."

"They're not here yet," Cologne stated bluntly, like it was an obvious fact of life.

"Yeah!" Kouma cheered, grinning over at the arrogant prince with a knowing look in his eye. "Once they get back from the Otherworld, they'll – !" But before he could finish, Hayato covered his brother's mouth hurriedly.

"Other…world…?" Vegeta said, thinking carefully about the implications he'd just heard. Because he lacked certain important information, he came to the most logical conclusion available. "So, you have fighters training off-world? Clever. It would certainly be a way to hide from my scouter's range. How long until they're back?"

The Dragon Team share a conspiratorial look among themselves before Piccolo looked over and said, "We don't know just yet. But hopefully fairly soon."

"Fairly soon? That's not _good enough!_ I want a _time limit!_ "

"They'll be here in two hours!" Kouma yelled, scrambling for an answer.

"Two hours? I can wait that long," Vegeta said, nodding in easy acceptance. "In fact, let's make it three hours. But, in return, she—" he points at Ukyo. "—has to heal Nappa!"

"She's still busy with Ryoga," Chichi pointed out as she stepped forward fearlessly. "I'll do it!"

Vegeta blinked and stared at Chichi with surprise but steps aside as she approaches. Krillin, Piccolo, and Raditz all glance at one another in worry, knowing that Nappa will likely be stronger once the fighting resumes as a result. They wondered if that was Vegeta's intention all along. But since they couldn't really do anything about it, Piccolo turned to Ukyo after she finishes healing the still-unconscious Ryoga. He sent an idly glance towards Raditz as he said, "You. Heal Raditz."

"Me?! Why me?!" Ukyo snapped, glaring at the Namekian heatedly.

"Because the other woman is busy," Piccolo pointed out, uncaring about the young mother's anger or roiling emotions.

"No! No! I won't do it!"

"Are you stupid?! If the three hours pass and Goku and Ranma are still not here, he's our best chance!"

"He _killed_ my _husband!_ " Ukyo declared angrily. "He can die _first_ for all I care!"

"Dammit! This is _more important_ than that!"

"It's fine, Piccolo," Raditz grunted out as he stepped back and to the side of the group. "I'm not even that badly injured. Besides, Ryoga is stronger than me now. He's our best bet now."

"Two of you would be better than one," Piccolo pointed out.

"Why?" Raditz challenged. "So we can trip over each other as Vegeta beats us to death?"

"Wow," Krillin couldn't help piping up. "You Saiyans really are bad at group tactics."

Before Raditz could retort with the instant riposte he already had on the tip of his tongue, a loud shout drew the group's attention to something more immediate.

"I'M BORED! Entertain me." It was Kouma, standing mere meters in front of the two Saiyans with his arms crossed.

The Dragon Team all turned in shock, surprise, and dawning horror. Ukyo was as white as a sheet as she and Shampoo wound up tighter than a compressed spring at seeing their four-year-old baby boy standing fearlessly in front of their enemies.

Cologne had a surprised quirk of her brow as she took in the scene with a quiet utter of "Genma, you damn fool." This is the sad remains of what came of mixing her genes with that of Saotome…and it may have been a bit of the Saiyan nature too.

Despite her glowing hands hovering over Nappa, Chichi was looking up at Vegeta with a pinched look of concentration that could almost be called a glare. She was already bunching her muscles in preparation for springing to Kouma's aid.

Gohan looked at Hayato. Hayato looked at Gohan. An entire silent conversation passed between the two that amounted to little more than questions and accusations of the nature of: 'WHY WEREN'T YOU KEEPING AN EYE ON HIM?!' 'WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'WHY WASN'T I KEEPING AN EYE ON HIM?' WHY WEREN'T YOU?!'

Krillin just spun and stared with a horrified look on his face, already envisioning Vegeta blasting the kid to dust. Mousse, on the other hand, stared at the child of Saotome and Shampoo. He had to forcefully repress the desire to smile in anticipatory glee. That _**brat**_ was a representation of his love's relationship with the hated _Saotome!_ He was a blight on his angel. If he were to die at the hands of an enemy, and who everyone agreed was an enemy; he'd be blameless. And he'd be there to comfort his angel, unlike that fool was off only the gods knew where.

Piccolo just crouched slightly, already preparing to follow Raditz in a rush forward to save the kid's life. Meanwhile, Raditz just looked over at the Scrapper with a thoughtful look. Intellectually, he knew the boy was not of his blood. He and Alpha were that Ranma guy's kid, and Gohan was Kakarot's. Both of them considered him family. And through that bond to Gohan, they'd taken to occasionally calling him 'uncle'. He'd punished them both when that'd happened, but it didn't stop him from developing a liking to the name. It would…pain him to see Scrapper die like this.

But where the Dragon Team was all recoiling in horror or preparing for a fight, Nappa and Vegeta both just stared at Kouma with surprised expressions. Neither of them made a move for a long moment after the boy's shouted demand, too surprised at the audacity of this child. But after that moment had passed, Vegeta started chuckling. As if that were the trigger, Nappa also started chuckling himself. As the pair's laughter started to build and deepen, Chichi started looking between the pair in confusion. In short order, both Saiyans were howling in full belly laughs.

Seeing the two's reaction, Raditz frowned and started walking forward. He had a feeling he knew where this was going. On the bright side, at least the boy had entertained him. Still, he silently put himself between Kouma and them.

"HAHAHAHahahaha! This whelp is _definitely_ a Saiyan!" Nappa gasped out, wiping a stray tear from his eye as his laughter finally started to die down, alongside Vegeta.

"Woman!" Vegeta barked to Chichi. "How old is the boy?"

"First of all, my name is Chichi!" the young mother snapped, causing the older Saiyan to blink. "And second, he's four. Why?"

"Kid has spirit," Nappa groaned out with a note of approvement in his voice.

"Tell me, Raditz, is this whelp your nephew?" Vegeta asked with a deceivingly jovial grin on his face.

"Close enough," Raditz admitted, keeping a wary eye on the duo.

"Really?" Vegeta said, with a quirked eyebrow. "He doesn't look much like you, unlike that brat over there." He nodded beckoningly towards Gohan. "I assume that's your brother's whelp, Kakarot. So, who's whelps are these? Do you have another brother?"

"In spirit, maybe," Raditz answered.

"Oh, so, Kakarot found someone to bond with," Vegeta stated knowingly as a dark grin spread across his face. "You used to have a brother like that too, right? Before you got him killed."

Raditz couldn't help gritting his teeth once again at the mention of Turles, his childhood best friend. "Scrapper, here, is my student."

"Oh?" Vegeta said with a grin on his face. "Hasn't earned the right to be called by his name, huh? You are going old traditional Saiyan rearing school, aren't you? That does make him your nephew then. You should've taught him better manners than to make demands of the Prince then."

"You are on the one who's saying we have to wait for three hours! So, you have to entertain me until then!" Kouma shoots back.

Raditz wraps his tail over Kouma's mouth to shut him up. "Quiet, Scrapper!"

Vegeta raises his brows in surprise at Raditz's action of exposing his tail to a vulnerable position. "…One wound."

Raditz looks up in confusion.

"I'll let the whelp walk away from this with one wound. And you'll step aside for it, if you want the brat's life spared, that is."

"Ah, Vegeta, relax," Nappa said in a surprisingly calm and consolatory tone as he shot the kid an almost playful grin. "The kid's a kid. He doesn't know any better."

"And how will he learn, Nappa, if he doesn't see there are any consequences to his actions?"

"Raditz can take the wound for his nephew and we'll continue to wait," Nappa offered with a casual shrug.

Raditz couldn't help shooting the big Saiyan a look of slight surprise at Nappa's agreeable mood. ' _Maybe he's just feeling generous because of the presence of true Saiyan whelps? The first ones we've seen in decades?_ ' Quickly putting that thought out of mind, Raditz refocused his attention on Vegeta and nodded in agreement with Nappa's offer.

"Fine then." Vegeta promptly shot a thin but powerful finger beam through Raditz's right shoulder. Vegeta was wearing smirk the whole time as it happened. He did this because it'd likely give him another chance to observe the healing. And, honestly, because it amused him to see Raditz sputter and gasp in agony.

Raditz, ignoring the pain, picked up Kouma by the back of his gi with his left hand and walked back to the group. Though he moved steadily and kept his back straight, it was obvious to everyone that he was in a lot of pain as his shoulder bled profusely down his torso and arm. Despite his obvious pain, Raditz silently handed Kouma off to Shampoo and took a seat on a nearby boulder, looking off to the side.

Ukyo just stared at him for a moment before she moved forward and started healing his wounds. Raditz raises a brow in confusion and questioning. Ukyo just grunts out. "You saved my son. Thank you. But this doesn't make us even though."

Raditz nods in understanding.

* * *

 **Snake Way**

Off in the vast expanses of the Otherworld, the two Saiyan brothers were flying at high speeds. Goku spared just a passing glance down at the palace below. The same palace that he smelt such delicious scents emanating from last time. And if not for the urgent sitation they were in, he probably would've been tempted to stop and eat again. But with a dark glare from Ranma and the knowledge of what's happening, Goku forced down his hunger and continued flying on.

"We'll grab some senzus on the way," Ranma offered, also feeling a bit hungry.

* * *

 **Southern Wastelands, Earth**

After an hour and a half later when Ryoga finally woke up. Things were pleasantly quiet when he awoke.

"Did we win?" he asked groggily as he pushed himself up into a seated position.

"Not yet, my friend," Shampoo stated bluntly as she helped pull him to his feet. Following her heated glare to the side, Ryoga spotted the two Saiyans. Nappa looked surprisingly undamaged from what he _knew_ should've been a savage beating form himself.

"What happened?!" Ryoga demanded in a building fury.

"We beat Nappa," Shampoo answered calmly.

"THEN WHY IS HE STILL ALIVE?!" Ryoga snarled furiously.

Shampoo gripped his arm tightly. "Because the other one wants him to be. And, well, you can sense him as well as I can."

"Grrr!" Ryoga growled. Even through his fury, Ryoga's senses hadn't abandoned him. He could sense the overwhelming power from the short one and knew that if he wanted something, none of the others could stop him from taking it. Not even Ryoga himself. "Dammit! So then, why are _we_ still alive?"

"We're waiting for the Sons to get back," Piccolo stated.

"Goku and Ranma?" Ryoga guessed.

"That's right," Piccolo nodded. "We managed to negotiate three hours out of them."

Off to the side, Nappa saw that Ryoga had finally gotten to his feet and awake again. Reaching up, he started to tap his scouter. But Vegeta spoke up before he could touch it. "Don't bother, Nappa. I've already confirmed his power level. It's grown since your beating."

"How much, Vegeta?"

"5,600," Vegeta answered blandly. "Stronger even than Raditz." He was purposely trying to get a rise out of the other Saiyan. So, he was surprised when the older Saiyan easily shrugged off the barb and took it in silence. Even in a type of admiration towards his comrade. Still, with the thought of power levels once again on his mind, Vegeta tapped his scouter towards Nappa. '5,500? That's it? The woman must not have properly healed Nappa if that's all he grew by.' "Nappa, are you tired?"

"Nah, I'm fighting fit again," Nappa replied easily.

"Are you sure?" Vegeta pressed lightly.

"Positive," Nappa acknowledged. "If anything, I'm getting kinda bored."

' _Hm… Maybe he wasn't as badly beaten as the no-name midclass?_ ' Vegeta pondered to himself. Nappa did have years of experience on him. He was confident that could've bridged the gap. Still, Raditz came next on the check. ' _5,400?!_ ' Vegeta was honestly surprised. He hadn't thought that the low-class had been that badly injured! Hm… Maybe it was something to do with the method of the healing itself. But…no, something was eluding him. Why wasn't Raditz still using his scouter? It could've been damaged during his time here, but he surely would've taken enough care of it to not let it get destroyed. And yet, he still seemed to have been aware that they had been coming. All of them had. ' _Yet more questions for later,' Vegeta grumbled tiredly. 'Just how many more would this planet evoke?'_ And now the no-name midclass was whispering with the nameless young mother with the distinctive mane of Saiyan hair about 'feeling him'. How could they be feeling him? ' _Psychics, Namekians, Saiyan colonies. Nappa was right. This place is insane. Thankfully, there's no magic so far!_ '

Saiyans typically didn't like magic. Psychics seemed to play to their own rules to keep their power. But it was at least similar to how a Saiyan grew their own power. Such to the point that, at certain points, it all depended on just how strong they all were. So, a Saiyan with enough power could overwhelm a psychic's ability to control them. Magic, however, didn't obey any of those rules. It just did what it wanted.

Finally having grown bored, Nappa stood to his feet, stretched a bit, and called out, "Hey, runt!"

"Yes, Mr. Nappa?" Gohan answered reflexively as the rest of the Dragon Team looked towards the big Saiyan.

"No, not you! Him!" Nappa grunted as he pointed towards Kouma. "You still bored?"

"Hey! I'm Scrapper, not Runt!" Kouma shot back, somewhat aggressively.

"Yeah, Gohan's Runt!" Hayato joined in.

"Oh, and who are you, kid?" Nappa asked with a quirked brow.

Standing up with his chest out and his arms resting proudly on his waist, Hayato proudly declared, "I'm the _Alpha!_ "

Hayato easily ignored Cologne as she sighed heavily while rubbing her brow, "Definitely his father's son."

"Oh? So that supposed to mean you're the best, huh?" Nappa quired challengingly.

" _Yup!_ I'm the _best!_ " Hayato declared.

"Even when, er, _Runt_ and _Scrapper_ are stronger than you?" Nappa questioned with a knowing grin on his face.

" _Yup!_ I always beat 'em when we fight!" Hayato boasted, happily ignoring his brother and cousin's scowling and blushing expressions.

"Oh my god," Ryoga couldn't uttering in a slight daze. "He really _is_ a mini-Ranma. _Ukyo!_ You were supposed to prevent this!"

"Don't blame me!" Ukyo cried out. "You are apparently spent a year with him, you bastard!"

Shampoo let out a long, low sigh. "And we're very grateful that you did. We trust you a lot more than _those two_." Leaning over, Shampoo muttered quietly into Ukyo's ear, "Although, Raditz is starting to win me over."

Ukyo shot Shampoo a slight glare at that. "Even if he did kill Ranma?"

"Even if," Shampoo confirmed.

"Well then, _Scrapper_ ," Nappa called out with an amused grin. "Are you still bored too?"

Kouma visibly perked up. A sight made all the more obvious by his tail taking on an almost question-mark like shape behind him. Nappa didn't even need to wait for him to respond, knowing he already had the kid's attention. He'd almost forgotten how expressive Saiyan body could be. "So, kid, did you have anything in mind? But it can't be fighting. Don't want to accidentally kill you."

"Why do I have to come up with the game?" Kouma whined.

"Hey, you're the one who asked me to entertain you," Nappa pointed out. "So, what did you wanna do?"

Before any further words could shared, a loud and bestial roar erupted from the young boy's stomach. It was a roar that was soon echoed by his cousin and brother. With a brief pause, all eyes turned to the boys. Before anyone could say anything, an answering call was made from the stomachs of Shampoo, Cologne, and Ryoga. And as their stomachs made noises of hunger and want, three more stomachs joined the echoing call as Vegeta, Nappa, and Raditz's bellies made known their own hunger and want.

There was another silence as the humans and Namekian took in the scene. The three boys were holding their bellies in almost pain as Hayato quietly said, "I'm hungry."

Cologne and Shampoo were both blushing in embarrassment. Shampoo's was made worse by Ukyo's silent teasing as the various mothers all tried to ignore the pleading eyes of their children. Ryoga, Raditz, Nappa, and Vegeta all chose to look in a random direction as they tried to not look at anyone else in the eye and pretend they weren't hungry as well.

"This is a Saiyan thing, huh?" Mousse asked not-so-quiet voice.

"You know, I thought it might've just been Goku," Krillin answered. "But I guess this really is a Saiyan thing."

"Why are you looking at me? I didn't bring any food!" Chichi quietly scolded Gohan before turning a slight glare over to the rest of her family. "Damn Son family stomachs…or should I say _Saiyan_ stomachs?" She said that last part as she shot a glare towards Raditz and Ryoga.

"That's what we'll do!" Nappa cried out happily and drawing everyone's attention. "A _hunting_ contest! The rules are simple! 10 minutes to hunt. Winner is the one with the most food! Loser has to surrender the biggest piece of food to the winner!"

"Nappa, what is this idiocy?" Vegeta barked with a slight glare to his face.

"We're _all_ hungry, Vegeta. Even you!" Nappa pointed out.

"That's beside the point!" Vegeta snapped. "We have the Namekian's arms. We can eat those!"

"Oh, so you want those measly little arms to be all only meat we have on this planet?" Nappa asked challengingly, blatantly ignoring Piccolo's groan and the looks of disgust from the rest of the Dragon Team.

"I didn't say that!" Vegeta barked back.

"Hey! Can I play too?" Hayato cried, his eyes sparkling with anticipation and hunger.

"Hehehehe!" Nappa chuckled. "Why not? Another challenger makes it more fun! And that just means that I'll get two giant pieces of meat when I win!"

"Then it's a bet!" Kouma shouted out as he leapt up as Hayato kicked a large dust cloud directly at Nappa immediately after the Saiyan finished speaking.

" _ **OOH!**_ _Those sneaky little brats!_ " Nappa cursed loudly as he grinned through dirty teeth. " _! I LIKE them!_ " With that declaration, he shot off in the opposite direction.

As they flew off, everyone else looked about and tried to take stock of the situation. The game was a hunting contest. So that meant that food was incoming and it would best to prepare. Raditz and Ryoga work to work digging a large depression for a firepit large enough to fit a bonfire-sized blaze. It was the best way to cook the dinosaur they were already expecting one of the boys to bring back. Shampoo had caroled Piccolo into helping gather firewood they'd need from the nearby forest they could sense off in the distance. Chichi and Ukyo were rummaging through their pockets for the capsules they had brought with them. Surely, they must include some cooking supplies more sophisticated than a fire and spit. Otherwise, they'd need to forage for spices…and probably wild vegetables, knowing their boys.

"Mousse!" Cologne barked angrily. "Help Krillin make and set up some tables!"

"Why do I have to do it?" Mousse immediately whined.

"You wanna just stand around doing nothing?"

"Maybe I do, you old bat!"

"Okay, no food for Mousse," Cologne said cheerfully.

At first, Mousse just ignored her remark. But when he saw the others all nod in agreement with proclamation, he grunted, "Wait, what?!"

"You don't help, you don't eat," Cologne said bluntly.

"I killed one of the Saibamen!"

"Yes, and that is _all_ you did," Cologne said agreeably.

"But what about the other brat?" Mousse demanded. "He's not doing anything!"

Krillin looked from the crude table he'd just carved from a nearby boulder. "Wait, where is Gohan?"

Chichi's head snapped up at this unexpected question. With a quick look around camp, she realized the question was a good one. Gohan was nowhere in sight. Thankfully, before she could begin panicking, Cologne spoke up, "He left while they were all still talking." Then, to herself, Cologne muttered out, "He's not even of Saotome blood and yet that influence… Or perhaps, is it the influence of Anything Goes?"

* * *

As the ten minutes were nearing their end, Nappa was starting to fly back towards the group. Slung over one shoulder he had a makeshift rope from which dangled the meat he had found. Among that list of dead animals were a lion, a tiger, a bear, and oh my so many lizards! He had at least five of them dangling from his back and another five hanging from his front. And these weren't just any lizards either. They were really dinosaurs. Not that Nappa cared. They were large and scaley, thus they were lizards. He might even have to learn their names someday since some had pretty good meat on them.

But as he was flying back, he saw _the best_ _ **thing ever**_. He saw the biggest lizard he'd ever seen before! It had a long and narrow neck and tail, but it's torso was simply massive. Easily as big as an Oozaru! He had to have it. It would easily win him this entire game! ' _And so much meat!_ ' he thought as a line of drool ran down his face. It was the work of mere moments to kill it and hoist it up. But due to its great size and weight he had to carry it himself.

It was with a series of almost musical thumps and bumps that Nappa came to a landing back among the group. As he discarded the rope from his shoulder, he looked around, "So, where're the brats?"

A shadow passed by overhead as he asked the question. Everyone looked upwards to see Hayato and Gohan returning. Hanging from Gohan's shoulder was a bulging makeshift bag of large leaves. When he dropped the leaf bag, it split open to reveal large amounts of vegetables and fruit. On the other hand, Hayato dropped his dead T-Rex with a large pout on his face when he saw the considerably larger pile of dead animals behind Nappa.

"How'd you find all those?" Hayato demanded angrily.

"Simple," Nappa replied with a triumphant grin on his face. "I fly faster, so I can go farther afield."

"No fair!" Hayato whined childishly, a visible pout on his face.

"Well then, where's the last brat?" Nappa asked cockily. "Scrapper, right?"

Just as he finished, another shadow passed over him. But this one was different. It was massive. Everyone looked skywards again and all of them, even Vegeta, gaped at the sight that befell them. It was a building.

It took them all a few moments to really process this. But when they did, they also started to notice that it wasn't just a random floating building. It was getting closer and closer to them. It was at this point that one of them noticed the distinctive color of the person who was holding it aloft. After just a moment of clumsy jostling, Kouma finally dropped the building to the ground a slight distance away form the group. Once done, he turned and shot the visibly gawking group a triumphant grin. "I win!"

Despite having had a few moments to process what she was seeing, Ukyo was having trouble believing what her eyes were telling her. But what made it even worse was when she recognized the logo over the door. She knew that logo. She had bought supplies from a similar supercenter for the pitstop. And such was it that she found herself verbalizing her disbelief while staring at the superstore. "No! _NO!_ _ **NO!**_ _Kouma_ , did you _steal a_ _ **Blue Lion**_ _ **Supercenter**_ _?!_ "

Ukyo watched as Ranma's son glanced between herself, the building, Nappa's large pile, and then back at herself. "…Nooooooooooo?"

Ukyo felt a vein on her forehead start to throb. It was a vein that hadn't throbbed in _years_. Not since they left Nerima. It throbbed like a painful reminder. She just barely managed to hold back her anger as she pointed directly at the blue lion logo and demanded, "Then what is that?!"

It was almost impressive that he was _that_ committed to lie, given the situation. Especially when a person stumbled out of the front door with a pale expression and sweating in fright before he fell to his knees and started to kiss the ground before muttering to himself, "Oh god. Is it over? Is it over?"

"And that?!" Ukyo snapped, now pointing at the man. "What is that?!"

Under Ukyo's darkening, Kouma sheepishly shrugged, "Uh…Okay, _MAYBE_ I…stole a Blue Lion…"

At this point, Cologne had walked up to the pair and placed her hand on the young woman's shoulder in a pitying gesture. "The Saotome Influence is _strong_ in him."

" _Strong?! I think he actually SURPASSED Genma!_ " Ukyo cried out.

" _ **THAT'S CHEATING!**_ " Nappa yells pointing at the building while glaring accusingly at Kouma.

Kouma just smiles. " _Anything goes_ when it comes to filling your belly!"

"Kouma! Put it back! _Right now!_ " Ukyo yells, trying to distract the boy from Nappa.

However, before Ukyo could build up steam, Shampoo's pleading voice halted her momentum as her wife started tugging insistently on her sleeve. "Wait, Ukyo! Think about it!" So distracted by her wife's begging and eager eyes, Ukyo didn't even notice when Kouma wandered off.

" _Shampoo!_ Not _you too!_ " Ukyo groaned in despair. Frantically, she tried to appeal to her wife's sense of morals. "We shouldn't encourage them to _steal!_ "

Unfortunately, appealing to a hungry Saiyan's sense of morality was futile as asking fish not to swim. "Yeah, it's clearly not a _good_ idea. But the food's _right there!_ " She accented her point with a cute stomp on the ground.

"Shampoo! Stealing is _wrong!_ _**CHICHI**_ , _help me out here!_ " Ukyo begged, hoping that the only other wife of a Saiyan present would be fellow voice of reason.

But when she turned her gaze to Chichi, her hopeful gaze vanished. As the woman stood guiltily stood in front of a large grill setup that was, while big, still too small for any of the bigger game that the Saiyans had already brought in. And to make matter worse, it was clear that she'd dragged it from the supercenter herself. Chichi looked up from where she was setting up the grill to Ukyo, then back down at the grill, then back at Ukyo. Taking a brief pause to look among the various Saiyans and their company, all of whom were watching the scene with varying amounts of interest and humor, she looked back at Ukyo. "Well, the food _is_ right there. You know how _difficult_ it is to cook for a, well, family of Saiyans."

" _ARGH!_ Ranma was right! You are like Nabiki!"

Chichi couldn't turning her nose up slightly at that statement. "I don't know whether to be insulted or complimented by that."

"Take it as a compliment," Ryoga spoke up from where he was standing off to the side. "I'm dating her sister and she's trying to get me into prize-fighting."

"Ohhh!" Chichi purred as the thought of potentially getting Goku or Ranma into such activities. With a brief eye, she glanced over at the man who was also apparently her brother-in-law. Actually, maybe she should use him in it instead since he had no active employment records. "This 'Nabiki' sounds like a smart lady!"

With a loud groan of defeat, Ukyo literally threw her arms into the air as she bemoaned, "I give up!"

Meanwhile, a few employees start poking their heads out as the manager stumbles out while muttering prayers to Kami, "Thank you, Kami. We're still alive! Okay, everyone start coming out." It was only then that he started looking at his surroundings muttering, "Wait…" First he notices the Earth's Special Forces, then the corpses, and _then_ the Saiyans. "I take it back: _**SCREW YOU, KAMI!**_ "

The Dragon Team could only really watch, looking between the employees and the Saiyans and worrying about what they'll do to them. But Vegeta ignored the glances as he looks over at Kouma and says, "I hope you know that _those_ don't count towards your food limit because I'm _not_ eating those."

" _OH GOD, THEY'RE GONNA EAT US!_ " the manager shrieked, running off into the distance while screaming out. "Trip the women and children! _Save yourselves first!_ " A flood of thirty employees and a few shoppers race off after the manager in a blind panic.

Once the tide of humanity had fled the battlefield, all eyes turn back to Kouma and Nappa who were still in the process of arguing who won the bet. "I said a 'hunting contest'! That means _hunting_ your food down!"

"Then you should've said that whoever had the highest _kill count!_ You just said the _most food_!"

"Cheeky little brat!"

"Salty baldie!"

"Cheating runt!"

"I'm Scrapper! Gohan's Runt!"

"So, you admit you cheated then?!"

"No, you're just too scared to admit you lost to a kid!"

"I'm not scared of anything!"

Kouma paused for a moment before softly asking, "…Does that mean I win?"

" _ARGH!_ " He throws the Apatosaurus at Kouma in frustration.

Kouma easily catches the large dinosaur and holds it over his head triumphantly. "Yay! I won!"

Shortly afterwards, the Dragon Team and the Saiyans began to start making their lunch. With the two Saiyans, it was a very basic affair and something they'd done countless times on missions elsewhere, using their ki to roast the meat. But even over the smell of such, Vegeta and Nappa were easily able to pick up the scents of the Dragon Team's lunch drifting over on the wind into their noses. Those magnificent and mouth-watering smells quickly caused both of them to look up in jealous yearning as the sight of Cologne, Ukyo, Shampoo, and Chichi all bustling around the area as they prepared everything.

"Vegeta, I'm starting to like this place," Nappa said quietly.

Vegeta inhaled the delicious scents deeply once again, savoring the smell before looking down in disappointment at his own roast wolf. "Make a note, Nappa. We're _not_ destroying this planet."

"Don't need to tell me twice," he answered simply. "I want some of _that_ food."

"You did kill several of their allies." Even among Saiyans, there was a certain small amount of etiquette to be observed during mealtimes.

"Ahhh, don't remind me!"

After several minutes of eating, the scouters start beeping. Nappa and Vegeta turn their attentions to the Dragon Team's table and lock their eyes on the new reading that their scouters detected. Even though their organic eyes couldn't see anything, their scouters were quite clear that there was something there. This was confirmed when they saw some food mysteriously vanishing into thin air.

"We can see you, you know!" Vegeta barked out aggressively.

The assembled Dragon Team all looks up in confusion, some of them with bugling cheeks. But Vegeta and Nappa ignore them as they continue focusing on the one spot. After a pause, the food starts disappearing again. Growing impatient and annoyed that he was being ignored, Vegeta fires off a small ki blast in that area. A figure with arms laden with food and a dumpling disappearing into his gullet suddenly materializes as it's frantically dodging the blast.

Once the smoke and dust settles, everyone stares at the bald old man who's appeared as four voices ring out, "GENMA?!"

Saotome Genma swallowed his mouthful and raises one hand in greeting, "Yo."

"I wanna say I'm surprised," Cologne deadpans. "But considering your master, I'm not."

Genma reflexively shivers as he looks sharply over at the young Cologne and doesn't recognize her. "How do you know the master?"

"Happy and I have history," Cologne deadpans again.

In a surprising burst of intelligence, Genma puts two and two together and stares at her incredulously. "Old Ghoul?! What happened to you?!"

Cologne brings her hands together and then spreads them as she drones out, "Maaaggiiccccc."

"Bullshit!" Genma cried out.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, the two invading Saiyans both did a sizable spit-take at the word. They now gave their full attention to the new arrival.

"Says the man who can turn into a panda," Cologne shot back as she splashed Genma with cold water to emphasize the point and to shut him up.

Nappa gags on his food as Vegeta spits out his second mouthful in as many seconds. They both stare in incomprehension at the transformation that just happened, even double-checking their scouters. Interestingly, they saw that were was no increase in power that occurred.

"What a useless transformation," Vegeta muttered.

"Yeah, and it didn't look willing, Vegeta."

Genma holds a sign up towards Cologne that says, ' _Dirty pool_.'

"Deal with it, old fool."

The sign flips around, ' _You're still older than me!_ '

"Yes, but now I'm young and beautiful. And you're starting to get wrinkly."

Sign flips ' _Bitch!_ '

Krillin speaks as he stares at the panda and the sign and asks, "Wait, how did that even—?"

Ukyo held up her hand to the small man as she quietly said, "Ignore the panda, it only encourages him."

"But who is he? Why is he here? _Why is he a_ _ **panda**_ _?!_ " Krillin asked in relentless confusion as his voice rose.

"He's Son-in-Law's sperm donor, unfortunately," Cologne answered.

"Oh, so, he's Ranma's dad," Krillin said a sudden calmness…which died a few seconds later. "Wait, Ranma's _dad?!_ …Okay, but that still doesn't answer _why he's a panda!_ "

"Because he's a fat and lazy fool who doesn't listen to warnings," Ukyo answered mysteriously.

' _Stop indulging that fantasy and pay attention to me!_ ' sign flips ' _Where is my son?!_ '

" _YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!_ " Shampoo and Ukyo shout as they shoot to their feet and prepare to attack. " _AFTER EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT CALL HIM YOUR SON!_ "

"Treating him like your meal ticket!"

"Using him as collateral for your debts!"

"Throwing him into a pit of cats!"

"Mind-raping him!"

"After everything you've done, you _really_ think you're his _father_?!"

' _And who are YOU to say that?!_ '

" _ **WE'RE HIS WIVES!**_ "

' _NEVER! I WILL NOT allow that!_ ' The panda that the fat man had become was now growling quite loudly to accentuate his signs. ' _Ranma WILL marry Akane!_ ' flip ' _The honor pledge WILL be fulfilled!_ '

Ryoga was quickly starting to get pissed but just managed to keep his cool. "Did you ever ask either of them if that's what _they_ want?"

' _Stay out of this, boy!_ ' Flip. ' _This has NOTHING to do with you!_ '

"Considering that Akane's _dead_ and Ranma's not here, I think I'm pretty qualified to speak for either of them."

Genma actually stumbled back in shock. ' _What?_ '

Ryoga points to several burial mounds that the dead Dragon Team were laid to rest. "She's dead. She can't be marrying _anyone_. And even if she wasn't, do you think it's a good idea to ask that when her _boyfriend's_ present?"

Genma had just frozen up as his mind started racing. After just a few moments, he curled up into a pitiful ball of depression. To his credit, the most important thought that was circling through his mind at that moment was ' _What am I gonna tell Soun?_ ' Any satisfaction the Nerimans felt over breaking Genma was negated over the constant reminder that a lot of their friends were dead now, and that the enemy was still present.

Hayato walks up to Genma, gazing up at him curiously as he asks, "Why are you a panda?"

Genma stared down at the boy, blinking in surprise. If not for the spiky hair, he would've been an almost perfect replica version of his son at that age. He tried to say "Ranma?" on instinct but had forgotten that he was still a panda. So, what came out of his mouth were just unintelligible growls. Nonetheless, Hayato just continued to stare up at him in fearless confusion, which only further reinforced the image of his son in Genma's mind. Almost hesitantly, he held up his sign, ' _Who are you?_ '

Hayato looked at the sign blankly for a moment before he says, "I can't read kanji yet."

"He's asking who you are, Alpha," Piccolo translated.

"My name's Son Hayato," the boy answered simply before cocking his head questioningly. "What did obaasan mean when she called you 'Daddy's sperm donor'?"

The sign flips over with the words now in Romanji. ' _What do you mean 'Daddy'?_ ' In his other paw a new sign pops up. ' _Who's your father?_ '

"My dad's the _best_ martial artist _ever!_ "

"Quiet, Hayato!" Ukyo cried out, having finally noticed where her son was. "Don't tell him who your Daddy is!"

Genma looked up at Ukyo and Shampoo, who'd already claimed to be Ranma's wives. Then he looked down at the young boy who resembled a young Ranma. And then he looked over at the blue-haired boy who also looked strongly like Ranma. An epiphany struck him like a lightning bolt. ' _I'm a grandfather?_ ' Genma the panda then flops forward, unconscious from shock.

"Heheheh," Nappa chuckled softly. "This is almost as amusing as watching the Ginyu Force work, Vegeta."

"Shut up, Nappa," Vegeta barked. "If what we've learned here is true, they've got magic." Vegeta made a note to start speaking low, lest the enemy in front of them catch onto their weariness. "We can beat the fighters. But if they decide to turn that magic against us, we have next to no defense."

Unnoticed by Vegeta, Piccolo's large ears quirked ever so slightly.

* * *

 **Snake Way**

When they were almost to the beginning of Snake Way, Ranma suddenly froze as a terrible shiver ran up his spine.

Something _terrible_ had just happened and his life would _**never**_ be the same again. He didn't know how or why, but he just _knew_ it was Genma's fault somehow.

* * *

( **Tellemicus's Note** ) Okay, honestly, how many of you saw THAT coming?! Not too many I hope! Heheheheheheh, me and **Fiori75** had a LOT of fun writing up this chapter! We've had this on reserve for months and I can't express just how ECSTATIC I am about finally having it posted! I hope you all enjoyed it as much we did thinking it up. I'd laughed more thinking up this chapter than I have in a while!

( **Fiori75's Note** ) Hey, I said a 'family reunion'. I didn't specific which family members would be reuniting with which! You all should've realized that Cologne was cursing his name enough. Speak and he shall appear! …No, Happosai will not be appearing in this fic any further, despite being spoken of. We've got a new devil to deal with and his name is GENMA! If we pull this off correctly, even Soun will be cursing his name soon enough. But soon…soon the main characters shall arrive!

So, read, review, and tell us what you liked and didn't like about this! It was an attempt to capture some of that Ranma-slapstick vibe. If that happened to come across by way of DBZA, that was totally intentional and we're not going to apologize! When the pieces fit, you just gotta put them together.

And to answer the question of several people, Akane got as strong as she is due to motivation. Not just Tien's motivation towards the Saiyans, Akane's more motivated for the long-term ramifications. She knows _exactly_ what comes after the Saiyans, namely Namek and Freeza _**destroying**_ Namek. So, she trains just that tiny bit harder. In essence, she subjected herself to _COLOGNE'S_ training and not Kami's, which is far more brutal. But, having survived that, had much better returns.


End file.
